good/right/real

Chapter 25: Stick Together

Summary: Severide is given a shocking piece of evidence.

Next shift, Kevin Hadley calls the Firehouse and requests to speak with Severide. He only wants to speak with Severide and it pisses Matt off. It was his girlfriend (almost fiancé) who died! He should be there! But if Hadley has information then Casey has no plans to get in the way of that.

When Severide gets back to 51, he seems to think Hadley's jerking them around, but they don't have much time to talk. The bells go off almost as soon as he gets back and lead them to an accident scene involving Chaplain Orlovsky. The Chaplain is pinned in longer than Matt would like and loses a lot of blood, but he made the call to save the civilian first. He keeps questioning that decision but deep down he knows the Chaplain would have approved of him saving the woman first.

Still, it's reassuring when Brett seeks him out to talk. She and Shay have just gotten back from dropping off Orlovsky. He can tell she doesn't have particularly good news but at least she's not tiptoeing around him. She leans against the doorway in his quarters as she updates him.

"He's stable but unconscious. They've got him on the vent," she tells him hesitantly.

"Do they think he'll recover?" He asks from his seat in front of his desk. He was supposed to be doing paperwork but his focus is shot.

"It's a waiting game at this point," she answers. "I'm sorry, Casey. I wish I had better news."

He nods slowly and releases a heavy sigh. "The extra time he spent pinned in—Do they think it made things worse or..." The sentence fades as he has no idea how he planned to end it. Lucky for him, Brett understands what he's asking even if he doesn't.

"It's hard to say," she tells him. "But what I can tell you is that the Chaplain wouldn't have had it any other way."

Matt rubs a hand over his face but eventually nods. "Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Still, I feel like I should be doing more. He's been invaluable to me since...since Gabby. I feel even worse because I keep wishing I could get his perspective on this arson situation. How selfish is that?"

She shakes her head at him and moves from the doorway to sit on his cot. "It's not selfish. You respect him. Of course you want his opinion. Did Severide learn anything new?"

"Somebody sent Hadley a clipping and supposedly he has a return address on the envelope it came in. The warden is supposed to toss his cell. It's more wait and see. Hopefully, they find something."

As if the Universe heard him, Leslie appears in his doorway. "Severide got something from the prison. He just took it to Boden."

He's up and marching toward Boden's office before Shay manages to finish her sentence. Leslie follows closely behind. They arrive just as Chief's expression shifts from dismissive to concerned. He's holding an envelope between two fingers and standing from his desk, looking stiff and alarmed.

Severide takes the envelope back from him and storms away from the office. As he walks past Leslie and Matt he nods for them to follow. Casey casts one backwards glance at Boden and finds him on the phone. He looks preoccupied with worry — haunted by something.

"What's going on?" Shay asks Severide as they fall into step beside him.

"The return address is where the fire that killed Henry Mills happened," Severide announces, his jaw ticking angrily.

"The fire that burned up Boden?" Casey asks in shock. "Does that mean that this guy is responsible for that one too?"

"I don't know, but we're done waiting for Cunningham to come to us. I'm taking this to her." Severide pauses and meets Matt's eyes. "You coming?"