Before Us (Kelly Severide Love Story)

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"I SAY YOUR NAME, JUST LISTEN, DOESN'T IT SOUND DIFFERENT? NEVER WHISPERED IT THIS WAY. IT'S GONNA TAKE ME A MINUTE BUT I COULD GET USED TO THIS"

I grab my things, running down the stairs.

"Jess, have you seen my-" I stop myself when I see her talking with Severide.

"Guess who stopped by again today" Jess smirks at me, clearly enjoying this, "I can see that" I send her a look, making sure she doesn't say anything weird.

"I was wondering if you wanted a ride to work?" he offers, "you know I have a car of my own right?" I question, "yeah but mine's better" he winks.

"Alright, but you have to give me a ride back after" I state, "sounds good" he nods, "okay then let's get going" I go to lead him out the house.

"See you tomorrow night" Jess calls out, "yes I will see you tomorrow night Jess, the same way I see you after all of my shifts" I comment, wondering why is she saying it as though we don't leave together.

"I know" she states, "I was talking to Danny" she points at Severide, "Kelly" he corrects her once again, "I know" she shrugs.

"Why would you see Severide tomorrow night?" I question.

"She invited me over to join you guys for dinner and I agreed" Severide answers for Jess, "you don't mind, do you?" he double-checks. "No of course not" I reply, "you're always welcome here" I state, "I just hope you have a strong stomach" I joke as we leave.

"You definitely don't mind, right?" he asks me again.

"No, I don't mind Severide" I repeat, getting into the passenger seat.

"So what's Jess is deal?" he asks, "why does she call me Danny?" he adds.

"If I told you that I would have to kill you" I lean back in my seat as he chuckles.

"How long have you known her for?" he asks, "my whole life basically, we grew up living across from another" I answer, "in all my baby pictures, she is somewhere in the background" I add.

"Ryan, we met a bit later, beginning of high school" I tell him, knowing that he is also going to meet Ryan tomorrow night.

"Ryan?" he questions, "my other best friend, we all live together" I answer, "is he the one who came to the firehouse a while back?" he remembers, "yeah" I nod.

"What's he like?" Severide asks, "he's amazing" I answer, "basically the more sane version of Jessica" I add. "No offence but I don't think it's difficult to be saner than Jessica" he comments, "that is my best friend you are talking about" I whack him jokingly, "ow" he chuckles.

He parks outside the firehouse and we make our way into the firehouse, side by side.

I can get used to this.

We get to the locker room. He goes one way and I go the other. We get changed into our uniforms, running into each other on the way out. Making our way to the rigs where Capp, Cruz and Tony are cleaning the rig.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"Patterson" Cruz groans, "he called in to say he is going to be late and we should start cleaning and running drills without him" he gestures to the set up behind the rig.

"Someone really needs to tell that guy to kiss their ass" I sigh, starting to clean the individual pieces of equipment while the others blast the rig with the house. "What's stopping you?" Severide questions, "the fact that I'm all bark and no bite" I joke as the guys chuckle.