Ossa Mea

Hurt

Casey was sitting at the desk in his quarters navigating his way through a huge stack of maintenance forms when Severide appeared outside the door with a huge grin spread across his face. He didn't bother to knock. He just walked in, shut the door and plonked himself down on Casey's bunk, lying down with his hands clasped behind his head. "So I was thinking... tomorrow night we could go to that new bar downtown? Carluccio's? Looks pretty good."

A deep frown came to Casey's face and he spun his chair around, chewing on the end of his pen. "Huh?" he spoke, as if he hadn't heard what Severide had said.

"Well you see, we seem to have developed some kinda date night thing?"

"You say that like its a bad thing?" Casey quizzed him.

"Not at all," Severide shook his head. "I like it. But if you want we could always lounge around at home... couch, beer, watch a game?"

"Who's playing?"

Severide shrugged. "Dunno but somebody will be," he grinned cheekily.

"Carluccio's it is then," Casey nodded his agreement.

"Good food, good wine and beer, and then afterwards we could..." Severide was saying as the alarms went and the dispatcher's voice came over the speakers, ending rest of their discussion.

"Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61, Battalion 25, motor vehicle accident..."

Without waiting for the dispatch to finish Casey and Severide both got to their feet, walking quickly out of the office towards the apparatus floor.

Cruz brought the rig to a halt and Casey jumped out of the cab onto the roadway. He took stock of the scene as he placed his helmet on his head. Several vehicles looked to be involved and numerous people were milling around them already. One of the cars had smashed into a store front, shattering the windows and sending glass fragments everywhere, along with debris from inside the store. Bullet holes riddled one whole side of the car. A few yards away another vehicle had simply come to a standstill, the windshield shattered by bullets and sprayed with blood inside.

Squad 3 went to work stabilising the car that was in the smashed storefront, as Casey's truck team went across to crack open the other stationary car so Ambulance 61 could get to the driver. But he was dead before they had chance to even get him out of the vehicle and into the ambulance.

Casey spotted some blood that looked out of place at the open passenger door. "Think there's another victim..." he spoke his thoughts aloud.

He and Herrmann spread out and started to search the area, it wasn't long before Casey discovered more blood and a smudged red footprint a few yards away.

"Chief," Casey called over to Boden, "We've got another vic. Footprints..."

"Careful Casey, PD are on their way," Boden warned as he saw him following the footprints to the building.

Casey could already hear the wail of police sirens in the distance as he followed the trail of blood.

The blood led Casey into the darkened shop. Severide was watching now he'd walked past. "Store was closed. Shop owners are fine, they're over…"

Casey shook his head. "Someone else is hurt, look at the blood," he nodded down to the ground as he stepped through the threshold. He unclipped his flashlight, flicked on the switch and called out, "Fire department! Is anyone there?" He lit the trail of blood with the beam of light and followed it to the back of the store, what had been small blobs of blood were quickly getting larger and larger. "Fire department! Is anyone…"

Severide heard Casey's voice cut off as they pulled the victim out of the car.

"It's all right," Casey spoke, his hands raised into the air. "It's ok, I'm not a cop," he nodded encouragingly at the young man, probably no more than a teenager, as he waved a gun up at him with a shaky hand. "You're bleeding a lot, let me help you… first you need to put that gun down…"

The man slowly started to drop his arm.

"Good, just put it down on the ground and let me help you."

Casey's heart was pounding but relief flooded through him as he watched the man bend down to place the weapon onto the ground. But his relief came too soon and the sound of police outside shouting and slamming vehicle doors startled the young man.

"Shit man! You called the cops!" he cursed at Casey and suddenly the gun was pointing at Casey again and his hands were raised back up.

"Case?"' Severide's voice called through the darkened store. "'Casey! You ok back there? Find anyone?'"

"Tell him everything's fine," the young man hissed at Casey, waving the gun at him again.

A flash of annoyance swept across Casey's face at being ordered around. He sighed and turned his head in the direction of Severide's voice. "Everything's fine Kelly," Casey called back.

But something in his tone and the way Casey used his first name told Severide that everything was not fine and he quietened his steps as he moved towards where Casey stood, seeing the outline of his helmet above the shelving units told him where he was.

"Tell him to leave!" the man insisted.

"They know something's wrong," Casey's voice was quiet but steady, "It's not too late, just put the gun down and..."

But Casey couldn't get any further words out before the gun fired and he fell to the floor with a stifled cry. Severide left the young man to make an exit through the back of the store, he knew he'd only be met by several police officers. Instead he turned his attention immediately to Casey who hadn't gotten up from the floor.

"Matt? You hurt?" Severide asked, quickly kneeling down. It was too dark for him to see Casey properly and the flashlight was on the floor a few feet away. Severide unclipped his own flashlight and shone it on Casey, as he helped him up onto his knees he saw the blood spreading over his turnout coat sleeve.

Casey groaned beneath his grip. "I've been shot... fuck that hurts…"

"You're all right." Severide watched the blood continue blossom out on Casey's arm. "You're ok…"

He bit his lip, the pain radiated from his arm. "Argh... think I might pass out..."

"Don't even think about it," Severide stated. "Not hauling you outa here... come on, on your feet."

He let Severide help him up from the floor."Fuck…" he cried out. He took some deep breaths before moving forwards out of the store with Severide's assistance.

Everyone had heard the gunshot and were waiting with anticipation before the two lieutenants emerged from the building, Casey was partially held by Severide. Two paramedics rushed up to them at the sight of blood. 61 had already left the scene with another victim. Out of the privacy of the store Casey grit his teeth against the worsening pain but Severide could see Casey's eyes watering as he led him to the back of the ambulance.

Chief Boden was standing at the open ambulance doors, concern etched across his features. Severide had clambered up behind Casey. He watched as Casey struggled with his turnout jacket. "Just let them cut it off," Severide insisted, "It's got two holes in it now anyway and it's covered in blood..."

"Oh come on..." Casey protested, "You know how much paper work is involved in getting a..."

Just to prove a point Severide tried to pull the jacket off without causing Casey major pain but it wasn't possible. Casey just looked up at him, resigned to the fact that the paramedics would have to cut it away and he would have to requisition a new one.

"Cut it off," Severide smiled smugly at the paramedics.

Once Casey's turnout jacket was pulled away Severide's eyes widened with shock at the amount of blood spread out over his grey polo shirt. The paramedic immediately cut the sleeve away and pulled it down his arm. Severide noticed how his face had paled, how he was trembling and he heard the occasional groan escaping his lips as the paramedics worked on him and examined the wound on his upper arm. Casey bit his lip, drawing blood.

"We've got an exit wound, bullet may have hit bone on its way through," the paramedic informed them. "How's the pain Lieutenant?"

"I can manage," Casey replied quickly.

"Give him something," Severide requested. Casey just gave him a look that said be careful, don't give us away. He was becoming too involved, showing too much care, but friends did that, right? They were always careful to keep their relationship from the rest of the house and the last thing they needed was this incident to give them away.

"I'm gonna give you a shot Lieutenant, need to put a pressure bandage on this, it'll hurt, especially if the bullet has broken bone," one of the paramedics told Casey as the other began to wrap his arm with the pressure bandage, to try and prevent further blood loss. Casey groaned as they wrapped the arm and he didn't feel the sting of the shot as they gave him morphine to try and dull the agony.

Boden pulled Severide away to supervise the clean up, and he wanted to protest, wanted to go with Casey to the hospital but he knew better and besides which, he knew that the injury wouldn't be life threatening. "See you at the hospital," he said, squeezing Casey's good arm reassuringly before climbing down to join the chief.

"M'all right Chief," Casey muttered, seeing the 51 leader shooting him a questioning look, feeling the effects of the morphine flowing through him now.

Boden gave a curt nod and stepped away with Severide to sort out the chaotic mess of a scene.

One of the paramedics had inserted an IV port into Casey's hand and hooked him up to fluids and clipped a pulse-oximeter onto his finger. They were trying in vain to get Casey to lie down but he resisted until the full effects of the morphine took hold and he finally lay back, too drugged to put up a fight any longer.

Casey could feel every pothole and rut in the tarmac that jolted him incessantly as the ambulance made its way to the hospital. He was still clutching his arm tightly against his stomach as he was wheeled into the ER. He had tried to persuade the paramedics to let him walk in and find a seat to wait for attention but they had refused point blank and he was taken straight into one of the trauma bays. He was still insisting that he wasn't about to die and that he would be fine, and that there must be someone who needed emergency treatment before he did. It was only a flesh wound he insisted, although the pain he felt radiating from his arm was proving him very wrong, showing him that is was a good deal more than a flesh wound.

He was allowed to move himself from the gurney onto the hospital bed without assistance but he immediately regretted that decision, suddenly feeling nauseous and his legs almost gave way beneath him. He thought for a fleeting moment he was going to collapse and face plant the tiled floor. Casey sank back into the bed and closed his eyes wearily, only opening them again when a man's voice spoke to him.

"Hi Lieutenant, I'm Doctor Carter," the man smiled at him from above.

"Matt's fine," he replied as the doctor began to remove the pressure bandage and examine his arm.

"All right Matt, how's the pain?".

"Tolerable," Casey hissed through gritted teeth, his jaw clenched.

"Ok, we need a CT scan, more fluids and another five of morphine," Doctor Carter ordered one the nurses by him, before addressing Casey directly once again. "I'm sorry to say the bullet had made quite a mess of your arm but you can still move your fingers?" he said questioningly, "Can you make a fist?"

The pain showed markedly in Casey's face as he did what the doctor was asking him to with a fair degree of success.

"Ok that's good Matt. You're next in line for the CT scan so you won't be waiting too long. We just need to check if the bone is intact or not," he smiled, trying to reassure Casey. "Just let the nurse know if you need anything more for the pain, all right?"

Casey just managed a small nod as he lay his head back on the pillow, his eyes closing again as he let out a slow steadying breath, allowing himself to drift on the morphine haze that was just beginning to overcome the pain after the nurse had given him another shot.

A short time later the CT scan had revealed a chipped bone in Casey's upper arm, but no very serious damage, just a mess of torn flesh and muscle that could be stitched up reasonably easily. He had been lucky that the damage wasn't far worse than it had turned out to be. Worst case scenario was that it could have sliced his brachial artery and he could have bled to death at the scene if they hadn't gotten him to the ER quickly enough. The humerus could have been shattered by the bullet but it was intact apart from a chip approximately an inch long. Casey had accepted more painkillers readily along with the wheelchair they used to transfer him around the hospital departments, the CT scanner being two floors above the ER.

He was now lying waiting for one of the staff to come into the bay to stitch his arm wound, wondering vaguely if anyone from 51 had arrived yet. He knew they would come at the first chance they had, and that someone would be able to take him home. He assumed and hoped that they wouldn't be admitting him. All he wanted to do was go home and be with Severide, and to sleep.

When Severide checked in at the ER to see Casey he was lying on his right hand side. His torso was bare and the rest of his turnout gear had been discarded, now he just wore his navy bunker pants, the ones that always made Severide want to go up to him and grab that perfect ass he had. Most of the blood had been cleaned away and Severide could smell the strong antiseptic as he stood by Casey but there was still a thin trail of red that traced down his arm and onto his chest. Severide smiled. Casey's eyes were only half open and unfocused until Severide greeted him.

"Hey Matty."

"Hey yourself..." Casey managed to whispered, his words slurred by the drugs.

"Broken?" he eyed Casey's arm.

Casey's brows furrowed and the nurse replied for him with a small smile. "No."

"Good," Severide nodded, relieved to hear the information as the front desk hadn't been able to tell him anything at all. "Guys are all here," he informed Casey.

"How'd you sneak in?" Casey mumbled, as if Severide had only just appeared. His sense of time was completely out of whack.

"Well, you should know by now that I only have to give that dazzling smile of mine to get my own way."

The nurse found Severide's remark amusing but it went straight over Casey's head and he didn't smile, he could only wince as the nurse pierced a tender part of flesh with the needle as she stitched the wounds caused by the bullet, pulling the raw edges together. They had washed the wound out to clean them and packed it with antibiotic gels to prevent infection.

"You're not refusing painkillers are you?" Severide quizzed, fighting the urge to hold him.

"No, feeling very... fuzzy right now..." An odd expression swept across Casey's face. "And I can't feel my arm... feels like... like it's gone." His face screwed up into a scowl. "Someone's stolen it..."

Severide could tell by the tone of Casey's voice that he was being deadly serious and really thought his arm was gone. The effects of the morphine. Severide just grinned, realising what was going on here. "Don't worry it's still there."

"You've stolen it haven't you?" Casey said with a hint of panic in his voice now. A petulant look came to his face and Severide wish he had his phone on him to take some video evidence, he doubted Casey would remember much of this.

"Matt you're fine. Your arm is right where it oughta be," Severide told him gently.

"Huh..." Casey clearly did not believe him and his drug addled brain didn't have the capacity for him to stop is thoughts before they reached his mouth. "I'm so tired Sev..."

He tore his gaze away from Casey and asked the nurse, "He can sleep?"

She nodded.

Severide looked back down at him. "Matty close your eyes, get some rest."

"No I can't..." Casey whined tiredly. Severide could read the predicament on his face. "What about my other arm?"

"What about it? Something wrong with it?" he frowned, wondering if he'd hurt it when he'd fallen to the ground with the impact of the shot.

"What if they take that one too?"

Severide looked quizzically at the nurse once more. "How much morphine has he had?"

"Quite a bit. 20mg," she told him.

Severide just nodded and looked back down at Casey who still had the same worried expression on his face. "Matt trust me, no-one is gonna take your other arm."

Eventually Casey allowed himself to sleep with the understanding that Severide would make sure his arm was returned and the other would not be taken. He drifted off into a half sleep and was in such a state when Boden arrived to check in his 51 Truck Lieutenant, his second in command. By that point the Chief had been informed of Casey's medical status by the ER doctor. Severide was asked to get back to the firehouse. Truck had already returned, leaving once they new Casey would be just fine. Severide wanted to protest, wanted to stay with his boy, but he couldn't so he just left silently, with a curt nod to the Chief and a smile for the nurse. Boden went back to the waiting room where he would stay until Casey was discharged so he could take him home.

It was almost 10pm when Severide finally slipped into his quarters, he closed the blinds and pulled out his phone from his pants pocket before he sat down on his bed. He flicked to his recent contacts and selected Casey's number, they'd only exchanged a couple of messages since Casey had returned home from the hospital. He wouldn't have been surprised if Casey was already asleep, he'd feel guilty for waking him if he wasn't so desperate to hear his lucid voice.

After a few rings he heard Casey's tired voice at the other end. "Kel?"

"You in bed?" Severide kept his own voice light.

"I am," he replied, "Was asleep..."

"Had some painkillers? You'll feel worse in the morning if you don't."

"I have," Casey informed him, "Sent me home with some codeine."

He smiled down the phone. "Good, how are you feeling? Got both your arms?"

"What? I'm all right Kelly, just tired now," Casey explained.

"Is that a hint?"

"No." Severide could tell that Casey was grinning sloppily down the phone.

"Looks like we're staying in tomorrow night and watching whoever's playing," Severide commented.

"I'm not housebound," he protested.

"You're hurt," Severide stated, "Doubt you'll feel like doing anything tomorrow, not after all that morphine..."

"It's only my arm, it's not even broken, it's just a flesh wound," he countered.

"Matt you were shot... I've never seen you in so much pain before," Severide told him.

"And I'm fine now..." he insisted, "Although I really am gonna fall asleep real soon..."

"Well I'll be on the line until you do."

"'K Kel..."

Severide could hear Casey's soft breathing now he'd finally drifted off to sleep but he didn't close the phone call, he just placed his phone down on his own pillow and lay down with his ear next to the speaker, listening as Casey slept.

TBC