Brothers in Arms

Severide had said he wanted to go back to the scene of a fire they'd responded to on last shift. By now the place had no doubt stopped smoldering and it'd be safe or at least safe enough for them to get in and check it out. Something had just struck him as off and he wanted a better look at things. He'd asked Casey to go with him, a second set of eyes, two could cover the grounds faster than one. Casey had agreed, they'd all been at 51 long enough to know when a house fire just seemed off.

The house was still standing but now just a charred shell of the two story home it had been when they'd arrived on the call. The windows were broken, part of the roof was gone, even the grass surrounding the property had been scorched and the dirt was blackened. The two Lieutenants entered the house, flashlights in hand, and slowly moved from room to room, trying to get their bearings.

"I see something," Kelly said as they moved towards the stairs, which were well beyond condemned after the fire.

"What is it?" Casey asked, shining his light in the same direction.

"Trailer marks," Kelly pointed to a series of scorch marks running the length of the staircase, leading down to much larger scorch marks indicating this was where the blaze had really begun. "Somebody poured an accelerant down the stairs, must've lit it at the top."

"And what, jumped out a second story window?" Casey asked, "they wouldn't be able to get down the stairs quick enough without getting burnt themselves."

"Do you remember if any of the upstairs windows were open when we rolled up?" Kelly asked.

Casey shrugged his shoulders, "All the commotion, I honestly don't remember much of anything before we got in here."

"One thing I know," Kelly said, "amateurs often use too much accelerant, and when they light it off they do get burnt in the process...that wasn't the case here...whoever did this knows what he's doing."

Casey sighed and commented, "I suppose if it weren't for arsonists our jobs would've been in jeopardy long ago. So? You gonna tell the arson squad about this?"

"Might as well, to anyone else this is just a regular house fire," Severide remarked. "The question is who had a reason to burn the place?"

"The people living here were still in bed when the fire started, I can't see any of them trying this," Casey said, "especially not with their kids in the house."

Kelly shook his head, "Me either. So who does that leave?"

"Anybody who had a grudge against the family?" Casey suggested. "We might never know."

"Gotta be something," Kelly insisted, "got to be some explanation for why somebody would try to kill a family while they slept."

"Yeah, they're insane," Casey replied as he looked around at the charred ruins of the house. He suddenly jerked, and stopped, and said, "Kelly."

Severide turned his head. The tone of Matt's voice told him something was wrong.

"There's a car parked out here," Casey said, "there's someone watching the house."

Kelly moved over towards the window where Casey was and they saw an old Cadillac sedan parked at the curb behind Kelly's car.

"Son of a bitch!" Casey exclaimed as he got a look at the driver.

"What?"

"He was at the scene," Casey said.

"Well what-"

A loud explosion from somewhere off in the house drowned out whatever Severide was about to say and his ears were ringing as the blood pulsed through them. The house shook and some of the charred materials from the second story floor fell through a hole in the first story ceiling and smoke was staring to pour through it as well. The two firefighters ran for the door to get out before the whole house came down on them.

As Casey jumped off the porch he saw the sedan backing up to swerve around Kelly's Mustang. Matt ran straight for the car, and as it shifted from reverse to drive, he threw himself on the car.

"Casey!" Kelly couldn't believe his eyes and felt himself freeze as he watched what unfolded next.

Casey had thrown himself on the hood of the car and he punched the windshield, the glass cobwebbed and ignoring the cuts to his hand and the immense pain in his knuckles and the very bones in his hand, he forced the broken shards of glass out so the hole was big enough to reach through. The man driving the sedan was a dark haired man who looked to be in his 40s, who aside from the fire, Casey had never seen before, and the shock of the fireman on his car momentarily distracted him that before he buried the accelerator, Casey reached through the windshield and grabbed the man by his hair and forced his head practically down onto the steering wheel.

"I'm gonna kill both of us if you don't stop this car!" Casey screamed at the man, holding on for dear life with one white knuckled hand, and trying to pull the driver through the windshield with the other.

The car jerked as it sped up and Casey started to lose his grip, he let go of the man's head and clenched two handfuls of the car's metal just under the windshield. He was just about completely thrown off the hood as the car did a sharp circle in the middle of the street, Casey held on with all his might but knew if he didn't do something else, he could easily wind up as road kill. Acting quickly, and with no idea how he even thought of it, he got up on his hands and knees and scurried onto the roof of the car, which made another sharp turn, and he just about fell off. He started to go over the side of the car, but he latched his hand onto one of the metal door handles for leverage and pressed his feet against edge of the roof of the car as it went around again. Casey knew that the driver wouldn't stop until he was thrown off the car, and the neighborhood was already largely secluded, there would be few witnesses to what was happening and definitely nobody who wanted to get involved or get help, he had to stay on as long as he could.

The car continued to circle in the street, seeming to speed up every time, and Casey's body wavered one way and the next, but he still maintained a death grip on the metal handle. And then finally, after yet another 360 spin, the handle broke off the car door and Casey's body went flying over the side, hit the pavement and rolled to a complete and total stop just short of the curb, the sedan was in the wind.

"Casey! Oh my God!"

Severide ran over to the body crumpled by the side of the road. Casey was covered in blood, dirt and debris and his head was pressed against his shoulder, his neck leaning to an alarming angle.

Kelly had called 911 as soon as Casey threw himself on the car, he knew the First Responders were on the way and he could hear sirens in the distance but they couldn't get there quick enough for him.

"Casey? Can you hear me?" he carefully touched Matt, trying to get a response. He checked Casey's pulse, it was fast, then weak. He forced one of Casey's eyes open with his thumb, his pupil was responsive.

"Kelly?" Casey weakly croaked out.

Severide was so shocked at hearing his name that he about jumped out of his skin, but he tried not to show it.

"You're gonna be okay, buddy, just hang in there."

"Ke-Kelly-"

"Just stay with me, Casey, help's almost here."

Casey got both eyes open and looked up at Kelly, but they seemed to look right through him.

"Kelly," he weakly got out, "Kelly, I love you."

"No-" Kelly's eyes burnt with the sudden onset of tears and felt more of them swelling in his throat. In all the years they'd known each other and worked together and nearly died on the job together, Casey had never said those words to him, Severide knew what it meant that he was saying them now.

"Casey," any further words couldn't get out as Kelly carefully pulled Matt's upper body up so he was sitting up supported against Severide's chest.

There was a small guttural groan in Casey's throat as his eyes closed and his head slumped to the side again.

The world just fell away for Severide and it felt like hours before anybody actually showed up to help. He had no idea how long he sat there in the street cradling Matt's broken, seemingly lifeless body in his arms, he wasn't aware of actual sounds but his throat was raw from screaming, and he felt like he couldn't stop.

Finally, somebody broke through the barrier between Kelly and the outside world. He felt somebody put a hand on his arm, and he turned his head and saw the last person he'd ever expect to show up.

"Pop?"

Benny Severide was there and the voice of reason as he carefully extracted his son from the scene so the paramedics could work on Casey. He got Kelly a good 20 feet back and was the only thing keeping Kelly from rushing back over to his best friend's side.

"What're you doing here?" Kelly asked, feeling that all of this had to be a dream, wishing it was, wishing it was just a nightmare he'd wake up from.

"I got into town this morning and I was on my way to see you," Benny explained. "On the way I about collided with the paramedics and figured this might be worth looking into. What happened?"

"I don't know!" Kelly yelled in frustration. "We responded to a house fire last shift, we went back to check it out...somebody torched the place...and this...this...this guy, was waiting outside, he had to be the one who set the fire...he was getting away and Casey...Casey..."

Benny looked back over at the blonde lieutenant who had two paramedics working on him, and guessed, "Casey got hit by the car."

"No, the car got hit by Casey," Kelly responded, knowing he wasn't making any sense and not caring. His body started shaking as he broke down sobbing and told his dad, "Casey's gonna die, isn't he?"

"They're doing everything they can, Kelly..."

"He's gonna die," Kelly was just about incoherent as he grabbed hold of his father and fell against him crying.

"Kelly, calm down," Benny told his son as he patted him on the back consolingly, "we'll find out what hospital they're taking him to. I'm sure he'll be fine."

Two hours later and nobody at the hospital had come out to give them an update about Matt's condition. Benny had had his hands full with Kelly who was beyond consoling. They sat side by side in two of the waiting room's chairs and sometime after the first hour, Kelly slumped his head against his dad's shoulder in a dead sleep, physically and emotionally drained, and even now every so often a small sob emitted from his throat when he breathed.

It had taken a while but word had finally gotten back to the guys from 51 about what happened to Casey, and Benny saw them starting to come in: Otis, Cruz, Herrmann, Boden. He knew they were all eager to know what had happened, but he didn't have any answers about Casey's condition and he was in no mood to have Kelly wake up and start bawling his eyes out again. Keeping one arm wrapped around his son's shoulders, he raised his free hand and motioned for them to be quiet, and shook his head to let them know there was no news yet.

Wallace could see that this night had been just as draining on the elder Severide as it had been on his son, with no words spoken the two seemed to come to the same idea and Benny carefully nudged Kelly back over to his own chair and slowly got up as Boden took his place seated beside Kelly and resumed holding the sleeping lieutenant against him while Benny stretched his legs and went to find a doctor to find out what the hell was going on.

Casey was aware of a low humming noise that sounded familiar but he couldn't place it. After a minute or so he realized it was him groaning in pain. It wasn't just one specific pain, all kinds of different sensations of excruciating pain were running through his body.

"Oh good, you're awake."

The voice sounded familiar. Matt forced his eyes open and saw Benny Severide standing over him, and looking around he realized he was in a hospital room at Med.

"Wha...what happened?" his voice was so weak and low he almost didn't recognize it as his own.

"Well to recap, you've got two broken ribs, a dislocated shoulder, a concussion," Benny explained, "and they picked about 200 pieces of broken glass out of your skin."

Casey closed his eyes as if just hearing that was too exhausting to deal with. He wanted to ask Benny what he was doing there, but actually forming the words seemed too overwhelming to him right now.

"You know something, Matt," Benny told the lieutenant, "I think I'm going to have to adopt you."

That got his eyes to open again, as Casey looked at Benny with a puzzled expression and asked, "What?"

Instead of answering the blonde man's question, Benny continued on whatever it was he intended to say. "You know, you and Kelly are so much like brothers, I think the only thing left to do is just make it official...then I could beat your ass for worrying him to death."

Casey looked at the retired smoke eater and after a few seconds, simply asked, "Huh?"

"Do you have any memory of how you wound up here?" Benny wanted to know.

Casey tried to think. Even that hurt.

"I'm not even going to bother asking what you were thinking, clearly you weren't," Benny chided him. In a slightly calmer tone he added, "It's alright, it happens...but Kelly's been worried sick about you since they brought you in here not knowing if you were going to live or die. And if you were actually trying to kill yourself, there are easier ways to do it than playing Pedestrian Polo."

"I wasn't trying-" was all the further Casey could get before it hurt too much to even breathe deeply.

"I know, I know," Benny responded, and sighed in frustration. Then he went to the door, opened it and motioned someone in. Kelly stepped into the room, and Benny nudged him over towards the bed, and pointing at Casey he told the blonde man, "Now you give your brother a hug and tell him you're sorry for scaring him."

He said it with such seriousness and force that Casey couldn't help laughing, in spite of the pain it caused him. Kelly leaned over the bed and hugged Casey, who reciprocated as best he could with one arm in a sling.

"I was worried about you," Kelly confessed.

"I'll be alright," Casey told him.

"Don't ever scare me like that again."

"I wasn't trying to."

"Do you have any idea how reckless that was?" Kelly asked.

"Hypocrite," Casey replied with a weak smirk.

"Alright," Benny got in the middle of them and said to Casey, "I already got part of the story from Kelly...did you get a good look at the guy you were trying to kill?"

"Hmmm...maybe," Casey tried to recall.

"Okay then, you're going to tell me everything you remember, and we might just be able to find this bastard," Benny said.

"How?" Casey looked at him curiously.

"Yeah, how?" Kelly wanted to know.

Benny looked at the two lieutenants and answered, "Because I know a certain cop in Intelligence who still owes me a couple favors from back in the day." He was not oblivious to the four wide eyes staring at him, but he also paid them no mind.

"Mr. Russo, there's a Matt Casey here to see you."

"Show him in."

Casey waited as the blonde secretary in a snug blue dress exited the office and walked past him, and he stepped in. It had been a few days and he'd been discharged from Med, the sling was gone from his arm, his ribs were taped, he walked stiffly with a slight limp and he still had bruises peppering his face and body, but for the most part he wasn't the worst for wear.

"Yes, can I help you?" the dark haired businessman in the expensive suit asked from where he sat behind his desk.

Casey slowly walked over to the desk and picked up the name plate and studied it, Norman Russo.

"My name's Matt Casey," he said slowly, still looking at the plate, then set it back down, "I'm a firefighter with Firehouse 51."

"And what can I do for the CFD?" Russo wanted to know.

"We responded to a house fire last week on Montana Street, there was a family of four who were trapped in their home when a fire broke out in the middle of the house, blocking the stairs and ensuring they couldn't escape. We pulled them out of the fire, and they have a long recovery ahead of them but they're expected to make it."

The man behind the desk looked up at Casey with a look that feigned genuine interest. "That's horrible to hear, but I'm afraid I don't see the connection."

"You should," Casey said, "the name of the family is Marchetti. Your company was buying up the whole block to level it and put in a new building, everybody else sold their properties, but the Marchettis weren't interested. Their home was totaled, they can't go back to it now, and nobody's going to buy it from them, the value of the land is next to nothing, all they could hope for now is somebody to take the burden of it off of their shoulders so they don't have to deal with it. After the fire, there was an explosion, apparently whoever set the fire came back and also set a bomb to make sure there's nothing left for them to go home to now."

"That's very tragic for the family," Russo said with no emotion whatsoever, "but I fail to see how any of this is my concern."

Casey merely nodded and replied, "My mistake. I just thought since you were trying to buy out the property, you'd be interested to know what happened."

Casey reached into his jacket pocket and pulled his hand out and a metal thud got the man's attention. He looked down and saw Casey had dropped a metal car door handle on the desk. A pin could be heard dropping in the office as Russo stared at it.

"By the way, I couldn't help noticing your black sedan parked outside," Casey said nonchalantly, "great looking car, except for one small flaw."

Russo slowly looked up at the firefighter, the expression on his face wasn't readable, but a subtle look of terror could be detected between the lines. He moved his eyes and looked past Casey, and his eyes bulged at the sight of two other men on the other side of the glass door, a black haired man in his 30s, and a grayer haired man who looked to be in his 60s, both of whom stood with their feet shoulder length apart, and looked like they were going to bury him. Then another man walked into view, a man in his 50s, average height, slight build, short dark hair that was starting to go gray around the temples, wearing a black leather jacket and hand both hands thrust in his pockets. Then there were others, a Hispanic man with short black hair and a pierced ear, and an older guy with a mustache dressed in blue jeans and a black jacket with a black hat. The smaller man took his hand out of his pocket and tapped on the glass door with a police badge.

The door opened, and Voight walked in, and announced, "Norman Russo, you're under arrest for arson and attempted murder-"

"I still can't believe you did that," Kelly said as he, Casey and Benny walked out of Russo's office building.

"Hell of a way to prove being there," Benny commented, "Match the door handle to the car it came off of."

"That certainly wasn't what I was trying to do," Casey told them, "I was just hanging on for my life. I don't even remember what happened after that."

"You still had it in your hand when the paramedics came," Kelly answered.

"They didn't have any idea what to do with it, so I figured it was worth holding onto incase Hank could find the car," Benny explained.

"The look on his face was definitely worth it," Casey said with a small laugh, though even that was excruciating to his ribs. "Thanks, Benny."

"Don't thank me, thank your brother for having the common sense to chase after you," Benny told him.

Casey looked at Kelly through the corner of his eye and asked, "Brother, huh? Well I guess we can make the best of it. I always wanted a brother, but Mom's too old to try again for one now."

"Shut up," Kelly reached over and elbowed him.

"At least I hope she is," Casey added.

"Shut up," Kelly jabbed him again.

"You two are too natural at this," Benny commented as they headed to their cars.