Before Us (Kelly Severide Love Story)

Not Everyone Makes It

"NOTHING MAKES IT HARD TO BREATHE LIKE BEING IN YOUR COMPANY WHEN YOU'VE GOT SOMEONE NEW AROUND YOUR ARMS" 

"Chilli, you almost ready?" I knock on the guest room door, "yeah" she replies, "I will be downstairs in a second" she adds. I grab my stuff before heading downstairs, Jess and Ryan had earlier starts so we have to take a cab because my car is still in the shop.

I am finishing some of the leftover pizza from last night as the doorbell rings. 

"Kelly, hey" I open the door, "hey candidate," he says as I invite him in. "What are you doing here?" I ask, "I know that your car is still in the shop" he replies, "so I came to offer you a ride" he adds. 

"Thank you, I appreciate it" I smile, "you want some leftover pizza?" I offer, "I'm good" he chuckles. "You ready to go?" he notices my bag, "yeah" I nod. 

"Let's go" he picks up my bag for me, throwing it over his shoulder, "Chilli!" I call which surprises Kelly, "coming" she rushes down the stairs in the uniform that I let her borrow since all her clothes are still at her house. 

"Hey Lieutenant" she greets Kelly, not really questioning why he is here.

She has too much on her mind to even care.

"Hey Chilli" Kelly responds, still unsure of what is going on. 

"Are you giving us a ride?" He nods, Chilli walks past us and towards his car. 

"I will explain later" I say when he turns to look at me for an explanation, understanding that now isn't the best time to talk about it, he nods and we go to his car, putting our stuff in the trunk before I sit in the passenger seat, Kelly in the drivers seat and Chilli in the back. 

The ride is silent, no one knowing what to say. 

"Dylan keeps messaging me," Chilli tells me, "he is really mad about what happened" she adds, "just block him" I advise. "He wants us to pay for the window" Chilli continues, "I am not paying for any window" I state, "how much is it?" Kelly jumps in. 

"It's not about the price" I reply, "it's about the principle" I add, "they had us cornered and I am not going to apologise for doing what needed to be done for us to get out of there safe" I continue, "and tell him that if he really cared about his window, then he shouldn't have left us with no choice" I state. 

"I blocked him like you said" Chilli states, eyes still glued to her phone. 

"Good" I nod, "he doesn't know where you live right?" I start to get paranoid, "no" she shakes her head. 

"What is this about?" Kelly asks.

I silently mouth to him that I will tell him later. 

We reach the firehouse and Chilli jumps out quickly, wasting no time to get into the Firehouse. 

"Okay, you have a lot of explaining to do" Kelly comments as we wait in his car.

"You know how Chilli has been acting really different lately?" I question as he nods, "well she invited me out after last shift with these weird guys and it got quite intense" I continue as he listens intently. 

"Chilli was making bad decisions and I had to trap us in the guy's bathroom to get through to her" I add, "they didn't like it and they tried to force us out so I broke his window so we could escape" I explain, "she was still shaken up so I brought her back to my house and that's it" I finish.

"You figured out what is going on with her?" He wonders, "yes" I nod, "she is grieving" I inform him. "Her sister died a few weeks ago and it wasn't exactly by natural causes" I explain, "woah that's heavy" he comments, "she must be going through hell" he adds, "you are right about that" I agree.