Matt Casey's nieces and nephew

Chapter 7

Casey gestured for Dawson to sit down but she refused. He studied her face and saw a slew of emotions; worry, regret, nervousness. This wasn't going to be good, Dawson doesn't overreact so whatever she needed to say, wasn't good.

"With this job sometimes we see things, things that we can't imagine are possibly going on, things that we can't imagine ever doing to other people, especially kids." She sighed as she tried to explain. "When the Chief brought Ernie out and it was obvious what had happened to him, I couldn't believe someone would do that to a kid. I know you felt the same way too."

"Dawson," Casey held up his hand and shook his head to stop her. "What is it?"

"The other day, when you had me check Grace," She hesitated. "There were some bruises that weren't from the accident."

Casey's face darkened as he realized what Dawson was trying to tell him. "What?"

"I told her I wouldn't say anything to you, she said it was just the one time and it was an accident, but I don't think it was and I think you need to talk to them."

Casey ran a hand over his face and then leaned forward with his elbows on his knees. "How horrible is it to say this doesn't surprise me? I knew something else was wrong."

"How could you have known that?"

"Sarah didn't bring them out here," Casey said as he looked up from the floor. "Grace and Ellie told me that their Dad moved back in and they were both out of control so the girls and Jake left. I knew there was more, I could feel it, it was written all over her face but I didn't push her on it."

"You can't blame yourself, Matt." She said. "Do you think Sarah knew?"

"I don't know," he shook his head honestly. "For her sake, I hope not."

"What do you mean?"

"Grace told me she was afraid her Dad was going to come back, if I report this he won't be able to come near them but if Sarah knew what was going on, she won't be able to come near them either."

"So what are you going to do?"

Grace was sitting on the counter watching Mills make dinner. He was making chicken parmesan and it smelled amazing. He had her grating cheese and was teaching her a few things as he got little to no help with food preparation. He was well aware of her crush, he thought it was cute but he did his best not to send her any wrong messages. At this point, Grace would settle for him as an older brother figure.

Jake was with Severide in the weight room. They had bonded over their injured shoulders and Severide was showing Jake some simple exercises that could help him heal faster. Jake wished Matt had the time to teach him things like this and spend time with him but he was busy with paperwork and getting used to being the parent. Jake found it ironic that before all the responsibility, Matt was the fun uncle and now Severide was acting like the fun uncle.

Ellie was sitting reading her book whilst she sat next to Shay and across from Hermann.

Casey left his office with Dawson close behind him and made his way into the kitchen. The minute they walked in Grace looked over and was met with a look of sympathy from Dawson. She frowned, confused, until she saw the unhappy look on her uncle's face. She knew what had happened and she wasn't happy about it. She jumped off the counter just as Casey crossed the room to meet her.

He handed her jacket to her. "Come with me, Grace."

She took her jacket and followed Casey out of the room, ignoring Dawson on her way. She had reached out to touch Grace's arm to offer an apology but Grace yanked away from her touch with a glare. She silently followed Casey out of the building and into his truck before curiosity got the best of her.