Chief Casey Season 1: Chicago's Newest Chief (Dawsey)

Chapter 23

Matt's POV: After getting dressed and getting the upstairs garbage, I made my way downstairs to see that Matteo already put his boots on and was now in the midst of struggling with his jacket. I was about to help him when my mom walked over. "Here Matteo, let grandma help you." I smiled when she did that. "Thanks mom. I have the garbage to take outside anyways." She nodded and agreed. "Mind if I join you guys?" I then bit my lip when I thought about it. "Think you can stay here mom? I would rather have somebody here. Gabby's outnumbered after all."

She nodded and understood. "If you want, I can take him and you guys can have a bit of alone time?" I shook my head. "No mom, I want to spend time with him. I am busy now. Work follows me home so...I have to take advantage of whatever time I can take with him. However, I promise that we can spend time together too. But on Valentine's day...think you can keep your house until at least then? I wouldn't mind if it was just me, Gabby and the babies. I am not going to stay the night at the firehouse that night even if I am working. I want to be home with her that night."

My mom nodded and agreed. "I will be here during the day. Oh, and I am also going to be here on the 12th. That is not optional." I laughed and agreed. "Maybe we should do Valentine's Day on the 13th instead. Then we can do a double celebration." My mom nodded and smiled. "That's a great idea. Now, I think Matteo is ready." I agreed and smiled. "Can you make sure that Gabby relaxes? Oh and remember, Wally needs her more. So if she needs help, offer help with Ella." My mom nodded and understood. "I know Matt, now go have fun with Matteo." 

I smiled and nodded as she said that before opening the door. "I have my keys mom." I then went to grab my car/house keys. "So, I can get back in. You can lock up." She agreed and smiled as she went to close the door behind me. Once she closed the door, I made my way to the garage and went to put the bag in the garbage (once I opened the garage door of course). Once that was done, I went to grab some shovels and looked at Matteo. "Matteo, come help daddy please." Matteo then nodded as he walked over to me and grabbed his little shovel to help me.

He then looked up at me. "Is mommy going to come outside and play with us?" I then looked down at him while putting my hand on his head. "I'm sorry Matteo. But she's still recovering from giving birth. You remember that mommy was in the hospital a few weeks ago? I promise, maybe in a couple weeks we can play outside together. Right now, you get me. I missed you yesterday buddy. But I have to say this..." I bent down and went to look into his eyes. "...you were so adorable when you saluted. You did a great job." Matteo then looked at me.

"Daddy, who was the guy with the picture on the screen?" I then sighed and looked at him. "His name was Wallace Boden. He was mommy and daddy's chief. He used to have the job that I have now buddy. Crazy eh? That big guy there used to be my boss. Now I am my best friend's boss. You remember uncle Kelly and aunty Stella?" Matteo nodded and smiled. "Sevide." I smiled when he said that. "No buddy, it's Se-ve-ride." That's when I heard Kelly walk out of his car. "Yeah, it is. Hey Matteo, you remember me?" Matteo nodded and got a bit shy. "A little."

I then smiled at them. "Thought you would've wanted to stay home." Stella them smiled. "I wanted to get out of the house. We just ended up coming here." I then nodded while walking over to her and hugging her. "Congrats on the baby. I meant to say that yesterday but, it was crazy. To think, Chief Casey. I already love it." Stella then turned to look at Kelly. "You're right. It's already gotten to his head." Kelly smirked when she said that. "So, what's bringing you to this end of town?" Stella smiled. "I was just out for a drive. I needed to get out of the house."

I nodded and agreed when I saw that Kelly had Stephen on his chest. "Boy, that is a nice sight to see on my best friend. And it's also a sight I'd never thought I'd see. A baby, attached to my best friend's chest. Once that I always thought was going to be used just to attract women." Kelly laughed and agreed. "No, the smooth sex moves attracted the women." I then cleared my throat and looked at him. "Uhm Kelly, my son is here with me." I then looked at him as he went to play in the snow. "Matteo, make sure I can always see you." He nodded and agreed. 

"Listen, grab a shovel and help if you want. We can talk for a bit. But then I am headed to the park with that guy over there. Need to get some of his energy out. That way he can nap around lunch time and I can get some cuddle time with my two other kids." Kelly nodded and agreed as he went to grab a shovel. "Hey Stella, how about you go inside and get out of the cold? I have to talk to Kelly anyways." Stella nodded and agreed. "It unlocked?" I nodded and went to grab my phone to text Gabby. 'Hey Sev and Stel are here. Sev is going to help with shovel. Want a visit?'

Gabby then texted me back pretty quickly. 'Yes, send her upstairs. I need some girl time from someone who isn't family.' I agreed and nodded. "Hey Stella, you can stay for a while if you want. Then Severide can come to the park with us? Want to talk to him about the reports." Stella nodded and agreed as she went to walk upstairs. Meanwhile, Severide came out to see me with a shovel. "What about the reports?" I then sighed and looked at him. "I am going to speak to you as your friend as much as I can okay man? I need you to listen to me though because I am also your chief." Severide nodded and agreed with me, knowing our relationship was tricky.

We then both started to shovel the driveway. "Listen man, I get that this is new to you put, what Boden wanted and what I want in reports is different. I am trying to figure it out. I am not sure. However, what I really need is your mileage after every shift. That was omitted." Severide was shocked when I said that. "We never used to put that in the reports." I nodded and sighed. "Well now, it's mandatory. I need to know our mileage on all the vehicles. Gianna forgot it too. It's about me wanting to have our vehicles done when we are off shift. Well, not Gabby's shift."

He understood and nodded. "You don't want replacement trucks." I nodded and agreed. "I want our trucks for Gabby's shifts so I don't have to stress out about it. You know she's going to want to help me through the stuff and I am not ready to bring her into it yet. She's barely given birth, she hasn't worked at the CFD in over a year...well more like a couple because of how short she was back at CFD and then, it's just a lot of stress that I don't want to put on her when she's breastfeeding. I am trying to keep it at home. But, I just did an OFI report and she helped a bit."

Severide nodded and agreed. "I know, the plant." I nodded and smiled. "Thank god you remembered. I already spoke to Hermann and he already knows everything. However, I am going to delegate soon. Think you can help with furlough requests. Keep track who on Squad 3 has had time off the most recently. Be my filter. I can't do it all. Heck, I am still trying to figure out what parts I want to keep. Also, I want you to consider moving up the ranks okay? I know you want to stay Lieutenant but...I want to have a Captain on Squad."

Severide was confused. "Why may I ask?" I sighed and looked at him. "Had a call with Patterson recently. He outranked my interim Lieutenant so, he was useless. If you are a captain, you have equal standing to him in case we have a joint-call together. I just want you to think about that. I know I am chief but...I want to have help as much as I can this first year. Also, I want a report on your candidate. I want to know what's up with all that stuff. And one last thing. Do you get to pick your candidate or are you assigned it?"

Severide nodded. "We get a say in who we want. Why, you have a candidate in mind?" I sighed when he asked. "Hermann asked me to try and get Lee Henry the Squad Candidate. What do you think about that?"