All Through the House

Kelly knocked on the door to Casey's apartment. From the other side he heard the muffled sounds of a struggle, and Casey's strained voice calling out, "Come on in, it's open!"

Severide entered the apartment carrying a six-pack of beer, a flat box and had a plastic bag strapped over his wrist.

"You eaten yet?" Kelly asked as he took in the amusing sight of Casey trying to put together the artificial Christmas tree he'd gotten out of storage.

"Nope," Casey answered, still dealing with the task at hand.

"That's fine," Kelly said as he set his stuff down on the table, "because I ordered a pizza. They said delivery would be about an hour, I told them that's perfect because by then my friend should be done wrestling with the Christmas tree, and I predict the end score will be Tree 3: Fireman 0, gotta say that's a bad image for the fire department."

"Oh shut up," Casey replied.

"Casey, there are three parts to that tree, not counting the stand, how can it be so hard to put it together?" Kelly asked, watching with a very amused look on his face.

Casey turned to him and responded, "Why don't you come over and find out?"

Kelly laughed, but he accepted the challenge. The pieces were strewn on the floor, he grabbed the two bottom parts and tried to figure out which was which. He stuck one in the stand and it seemed to fit, then he picked up the next piece to put on top of it, and when he did, the artificial limbs, that so far had been folded up, all poured open, and one of them slapped him in the face.

"Are we having fun yet?" Casey sarcastically asked.

"Okay, fair point," Kelly said as he waited for the 'click' that would signify the two pieces locking together. It finally did, and he picked up the top part, which also flopped down and hit him in the mouth. He shoved it in place and heard it click.

"There, easy," he said lightly, then added, "at least it came with the clear lights already on it, that should save us half the work."

Casey looked over to the table and asked, "What's that?"

"Well I hope you don't mind...my mom decided after the whole thing with Benny...to start getting her affairs in order now to avoid the rush, so..." Kelly went over to the table and picked up the flat box, "she's prematurely willing me some of her antique Christmas decorations...figured if I ever do decide to start a family, there'll be something to start the collection with."

"So you brought them here?" Casey asked.

"Well..." Kelly shrugged, and he told him, "they're about 80 years old and half the paint's gone on some of them, they're not much to look at anymore but there's some sentimental value."

"And you brought them here?" Casey asked again.

"You know I don't have a tree," Kelly said, "besides, you're kind of like family, so why let them go to waste?"

"Well...I don't know what to say, thanks...I'm sure we can find some room...uh..." Casey tried to think how to explain what he had to say, "that's one thing that wasn't divided up in the divorce...I haven't had a chance to go through the box yet and see what to keep and...what to get rid of."

Severide nodded in understanding, "No problem, I'll help you sort it. Just point me to everything Gabby picked out and I'll be very happy to smash it all."

Casey laughed. "You're horrible, you know that?"

"I'm a saint," Kelly boasted, "If I were horrible I'd take it all outside and light it on fire."

Casey rolled his eyes and elbowed Severide.

"So what's in the bag?"

"Oh...well, since we agreed to break with the usual Matt Casey tradition and do something different...I was going to bring over my idea of Christmas tradition, 'Scrooged' and 'Lethal Weapon', but Otis found some old Christmas movies on DVD, he says we gotta check 'em out...there's a couple old versions of A Christmas Carol, 'It Happened on Fifth Avenue', and...something called 'The Great Rupert', I have no idea so don't ask," Kelly said as he poured the videos out of the bag.

Casey snorted, "Usual tradition, eh?"

"Let me guess, not so usual anymore, right?" Severide took a stab.

Casey just shrugged his shoulders and went to open the box of decorations. While he did that, Severide walked over to the entertainment center and looked at the DVDs sitting on top by the player, "Looks like usual tradition, 'A Christmas Story', and 'Gremlins'." He looked over at Casey and inquired, "Did you even watch these the last couple years?"

"Gabby didn't like them," Casey said simply as he took out his knife to cut through the taped flaps.

Severide turned back towards the TV and murmured to himself, "Why am I not surprised?" He cleared his throat and asked louder, "So what did you guys watch when you put up the tree?"

"How many times can you watch 'It's a Wonderful Life'?" Casey asked.

"You mean during the TV stations' combined 1000 hour marathon?" Kelly asked.

Casey shook his head as he pulled the flaps apart and opened the box, "I saw it when I was a kid, okay movie but I never got why they play it all the time at Christmas...after the 500th time it starts to get old.

Severide heard a distinct rustling sound and he turned around and saw Casey pulling out a dozen or so plastic grocery bags that had all been tied shut. "What's that?"

"The lights. I finally figured out to save the trouble of untangling them for 6 hours, pull them all apart and bag them separately at the end of the season, then they're ready to go."

"Assuming they still work, and didn't somehow burn out over the year," Kelly told him. "You didn't get LEDs did you?"

"I got a couple. The others look better," Casey responded.

"But burn out quicker," Kelly pointed out.

"It's only once a year," Casey told him.

"I'll test them," Kelly picked up a bag and untied it. "By the way, didn't you get one of those remotes to turn these on with?"

"Somewhere," Casey looked through the box and pulled out an extension cord.

"Everything's 'somewhere', don't you know how to organize anything?" Kelly teased him. "How'd you get through your candidacy?"

"A lot of booze," Matt answered, "that's about all I remember of it."

"Good days," Kelly nodded as he plugged the lights in one string at a time to see if they still worked. So far all good.

"Yeah, but would you actually want to go back?" Casey asked.

Kelly thought about it for a minute, and thought about all the people in his life who were still alive back then. "Yeah, probably."

Casey nodded as he remembered Hallie and having their whole lives ahead of them. "Me too."

"Okay, these are still good," Kelly tossed a couple strings at Casey and told him, "get them connected and we'll get them on."

Casey had a response in mind but decided against it, he plugged in the lights already on the tree, then connected the first string of colored lights, and plugged one into another into another until they were all linked together. He got on one side of the tree and Kelly got on the other and one wrapped the lights around on his side, then passed the rest of it around to the other, until the tree was covered top to bottom in brightly colored lights.

"Looking good," Kelly observed, then he asked Casey, "where's that star that goes on top? That five color one that lights up you had?"

"It broke," Casey answered. "It was too heavy for the top and got smashed in the fall."

"Oh, sorry."

Casey went back to the box and dug through the contents without actually taking anything out. "Hallie had an angel, you remember those old ones with the curly hair and the blue eye shadow and it holds two red bulbs in its hands?"

"Sounds familiar," Kelly said.

"It had been in her family for 20 years, then it burnt out...she found another one at a second hand store..." Casey took out a small worn box with a clear plastic front that showcased the short angel in the white gown with a red bow, "she thought something was wrong with it when she plugged it in...turns out this one blinks."

Severide looked at the top of the tree that stood a good foot and a half over their heads, he could probably stretch far enough to stick it on, but he knew what would happen if something went wrong and the whole tree fell down, smashing this topper as well in the process. He took the box and told Casey, "Get me a chair, I'll put it on."

Kelly grabbed the top string of lights on the tree and felt along for the plug at the end, finally found it, plugged the angel into it and saw it light up with a golden glow, he got it positioned on the top of the tree, then turned and saw how brightly lit up the wall was from it, then saw the color was gone, and back again, and he looked back and saw the whole angel blinking on and off.

"You weren't kidding," he commented as he stepped down. He turned to Casey and told him, "You know, this is the first artificial tree I've ever seen that actually looks like the real thing."

"It was a relief for me," Casey said, "I found out when I was 10 that I'm allergic to real ones."

"Seriously?"

"It's the pollen on them," Casey told him. "Every time we got one it had to be hosed down, wrapped in plastic and left outside for a week in the snow. Before that we just brought them in and put them up, and three years in a row I'd wake up on Christmas Eve with a sore throat, throwing up, couldn't eat anything my mom cooked...which honestly wasn't always a bad thing."

Kelly laughed, but he responded, "Sorry to hear that."

"Yeah well...Gabby found out the hard way, she had one delivered to the apartment our first Christmas together, thought it was so romantic...as soon as I saw it I screamed at her to get it out. Didn't really get around to telling her why until the next day."

Kelly laughed again, "How'd that go over?"

"I felt sorry for her," Casey said, "spent $200 to buy it and have it delivered, then had to have somebody come and take it out."

"Not to sound insensitive," Kelly started.

"When has that ever stopped you?" Casey asked.

"As a paramedic, shouldn't she have asked first if you had any allergies?"

"This from a guy who barely remembers to ask his date's name when he takes them home," Casey scoffed.

Kelly responded with an elbow to the ribs.

"Alright, let's get the rest of the decorations on," Casey said. He went back over to the large box and started taking stuff out, first several small boxes that held ornaments, then he grabbed a hunk of silver tinsel garland and pulled it out of the box like a magician's handkerchief trick, Kelly watched and estimated the garland had to be about 30 feet long.

"They sure don't make them that long anymore," he observed.

"We had this stuff 30 years ago," Casey explained as he finally found the end of it, he tossed it to Severide and told him, "put that on first."

"Why?"

"Because you can hang the ornaments from it."

"Oh ho, stand back folks, he's been thinking about this," Kelly joked as he took the gob of tinsel over to the tree and started stringing the end up on the bottom branches.

Casey took most of the decorations out of the box and strewn them around the floor, a few on the coffee table. He took the lid off one box of a dozen different colored balls, then a couple others, most of them still had wire hangers on them, it was unlikely they'd all go on the tree but he could never bring himself to get rid of any of them, a lot of them had been in his family for a couple generations, others he and Hallie had picked out their first Christmas together.

"Casey."

"Huh?"

"I said how's that look?" Kelly gestured to the tree, revealing he got the garland wrapped around from top to bottom.

Casey nodded, "Looks great, thanks."

"Now what?" Kelly asked.

"Why do you keep saying 'now what?' Didn't you ever decorate a tree?"

"Yeah, but my mom officially banned me from helping her with it until I was 10. I tried once when I was four and wound up dropping five antique glass balls which shattered into a million pieces. Needless to say she was not pleased."

Kelly leaned over one box and took out an unusual ornament, a gray glass patchwork bear.

"Boy this sure is ugly, I thought you had better taste than this," Kelly said as he clutched it in his hand.

"That's not mine," Casey said as he sorted through another box, "Gabby bought that."

In one swift move, Kelly chucked it into the wastebasket where it landed with a pronounced shatter.

"Whoops," he said nonchalantly with a coy 'I'm a bad boy' expression on his face.

Casey straightened his spine and turned to Kelly with a wide eyed look of total shock on his face. "No wonder your mom didn't trust you."

"Ooh!" Kelly reached for a musical snow globe on the coffee table, "That looks nice and breakable, is it yours?" he palmed it and wound up for the pitch.

"That's mine!" Casey responded hurriedly.

Severide growled in disappointment as he set it back down.

"Can I trust you with these?" Casey handed him a box full of clear glass ornaments etched in circles and rectangles with faint Christmas designs on them.

"Are they yours?"

"Yes!"

"Treat them like my own," Severide said in answer.

"Why doesn't that make me feel better?" Casey said under his breath, then added loudly, "hang them over the lights."

Kelly looked back with a puzzled expression, but he did with one and saw the way the light shone on the etches in the glass and shimmered, almost like a kaleidoscopic effect.

"Cool," he observed.

Casey took other ornaments out of the box and set them on the coffee table, Severide looked back and noted a lot of them were in pairs: two large jingle bells - one green and one red - both with plaid ribbons tied in bows, two small red stockings, two plastic reindeer heads off those plastic tubes they put Christmas candies in.

"What's all that?" Kelly asked.

"It was something my mom did, every year she got my sister and I a match set of decorations...they were still at the house when she went to jail, my sister wanted nothing to do with anything that belonged to her, so I kept all of them."

"Oh," he responded quietly.

The glass ornaments were heavy enough to slip off some of the branches, so Severide pushed them as far back onto the green limbs as he could, further back they stayed in place and the branches didn't sink so much under the weight, then to make sure they stayed in place, he twisted the ends of the branches to face upward. There were a lot of advantages to having an artificial tree. No sap, no pine needles, no watering, and the limbs were nice and bendable.

"What else you got in that box?" Kelly asked as he went over to it to have a look. He took in all the stuff that was already laying around the living room and inquired, "Is there a trap door at the bottom of it or something?" and stuck his head in it to see what was still inside.

Casey hadn't been paying much attention as he lined up the decorations, but the next thing he was aware of was Severide laughing mischievously.

"What's so funny?" he asked, without turning around.

"These," Kelly answered as he stepped over to Casey and held out pictures of Casey and Christie around the ages of 5 and 7 that were framed in neon paperboard cut in Christmas shapes with large yarn loops for hangers.

"Oh my God," Casey groaned.

Severide laughed his head off at the discovery. "Where'd these come from?"

"Give me those," Casey snatched them away from him, but answered, "that was another idea of my mom's...she did them herself."

"Huh...she did a good job," Severide noted.

"Dad thought it was stupid," Casey said as he put them on the coffee table.

A couple minutes later Casey heard Severide laughing again, louder this time.

"Now what?" he asked as he turned around.

"Ohhhh, I think this one's my favorite," Kelly flipped over another photograph ornament that showed Christie, a toddler, holding her baby brother, who looked up at his sister with wide eyes. Unlike the others, this one was framed in a heavy resin wreath. "I need to get a copy made of that, put it on the bulletin board at 51."

"You do and I will kill you in your sleep," Casey told him. "I'm not kidding."

Severide just laughed in response, then he pursed his lips together but still couldn't stifle the laughter, finally he calmed down and told Matt, "Seriously...I'm jealous. Growing up an only child, you look around at everybody else with brothers and sisters, get the idea something's missing."

"Well things did use to be better than they were," Casey said as he looked at the old photo. He turned to Kelly and told him, "It wasn't always horrible...but I'm not sure where it all went wrong."

Severide didn't say anything but reached over and clapped a hand on Casey's shoulder. A few seconds later he removed it and asked, "Want to get back to decorating?"

Casey nodded, but he kept hold of the wreath frame. He picked up a box of colored glass balls and told him, "Take these."

Severide stepped back on the chair to hang some of the ornaments up near the top. Casey picked up the box of Severide's antique, discolored, dull and faded ornaments that had long since ceased to shine with the lights, the once bright colors were half replaced with dark black and gray spots. Some of them were still in fair condition on one side, and some had dates etched into the glass, 1928, 1938, they really were a family heirloom. He looked at the tree and sought out the perfect places to hang them.

Within half an hour, almost every available limb on the tree was taken up by glass balls, metal bells, framed photos, bows and hand painted ornaments.

"That it?" Kelly asked.

"Nope," Casey said as he took out a another box, flipped it open and revealed a big ball of tinsel icicles all knotted together.

"You know they sell this stuff every year, right?" Kelly asked, "you just throw it away and buy new next year."

"Eh," Casey shrugged, "we've had it for about 20 years. Couldn't really bring myself to throw it away."

"Seriously?" Kelly's eyebrows raised.

Casey nodded, "When I was a kid, people talked about banning it claiming it was dangerous to animals, so my mom had us take it all off and save it...after a while it just made sense to keep it."

Severide shrugged wordlessly as he grabbed a handful and it all came out in one clump. He loosely pulled on the strands and they came apart with little trouble.

"My mom was very organized when it came to this stuff," he told Casey, "one strand at a time, I'd like to know who came up with that idea and beat the hell out of them."

Casey chuckled in response.

"I say," Kelly tossed a few strands onto one branch and said, "just throw and go."

"Sounds right," Casey said as he hung a dozen or so strands on another limb.

When they were finished, the tree was covered from the bottom to just under the angel with silver tinsel that reflected all the colored lights and added to the shimmering glare they put out. Both firefighters collapsed on the couch with a plate of pizza and a beer and settled down to watch one of the movies Otis had lent them. Casey had just picked up the remote and started the movie when Severide elbowed him sharply and asked, "What do you mean she didn't like them?"

Casey just managed to keep his beer from spilling in his lap and all over the couch, he turned to Severide and asked, "Huh?"

"Gabby, what do you mean she didn't like them? Who doesn't like 'A Christmas Story'? It's not even classic, it's an American institution!"

Casey shrugged and turned towards the TV, "She said she didn't really get it."

"What's to get?"

"I don't know," Casey said.

"And who doesn't like 'Gremlins'?" Kelly wanted to know.

"She thought it was too disturbing," Casey answered.

"Too distur-" Severide did a double take, "We live in Chicago! What does she mean too disturbing?"

A small laugh escaped from Casey's closed lips, he just shrugged and said, "Beats me."

"Have I told you I'm so happy you got your divorce finalized?" Kelly said sarcastically.

Casey elbowed him, "Cut it out."

Kelly smiled at him and said, "Seriously, I'm glad that you're moving on with your life. You look good, you look better than you have in a long time."

Casey grabbed his plate and bottle and stretching his leg out to the side as far as he could, scooted as far over to the other side of the couch as possible in one fluid movement.

"What?" Kelly asked.

"This conversation's getting too awkward for me," Casey said.

Kelly reached over and playfully slapped his side, "I mean it, you look like a new person. You look-"

"Stop," Casey told him. "I really hope you're not trying to hit on me, Kelly, because I am not in the mood to deal with that, besides, if this is how you hit on people, you suck."

Kelly busted out laughing. Casey maintained a halfway straight face and a mostly straight voice as he added, "No wonder you're single, you need help."

Severide reached over and elbowed him. "I just mean you look like everything's not weighing you down anymore. You look like you're actually sleeping now."

"I slept before."

"Yeah, I can just imagine," Kelly said, reaching over to nudge Casey and said in his best impersonation of Gabby, "Wake up, Matt, I've got a great idea, you've got to hear this."

Casey tried and failed miserably to stifle the snort that escaped him. "You are horrible, you know that?"

Kelly laughed and replied, "I may be horrible but you look like you just came back from the dead, that has to tell you something."

Casey looked back to the TV, inhaled, and let out a sigh, "I hate to admit it, I thought it'd be harder than this. I almost feel guilty."

"Casey-"

"I said almost," Casey told him, "It feels weird to say I'm actually looking forward to Christmas this year, alone."

Severide was tempted to respond but he had a feeling what he was going to say wouldn't be appreciated in that moment. Instead the two of them sat in silence as they ate their dinner and watched a 1930s version of 'A Christmas Carol'.

Casey felt his eyelids getting heavy and had just closed them when he heard another crash of glass in the wastebasket, as he shot up on the couch he turned to Kelly, who just offered a smug grin and an over-the-top, "Oops!"

"Will you cut that out?" Casey rubbed his eyes, "You are worse than a damn cat."

"When did you ever have a cat?" Kelly asked. He turned his attention to their plates from dinner on the coffee table and asked, "You want me to take these?"

Casey jumped up, "You keep your hands off them, I've seen your work all night."

"They're your dishes, right? What's the problem?" Severide replied.

Casey grumbled as he took the plates and empty bottles to the kitchen, he'd no more set them in the sink when he heard another crash from the living room. He went back to the doorway, stuck his head out and hollered to the Squad lieutenant, "Cut-that-out!"

Severide just laughed in response, Casey grunted under his breath as he headed back to the living room.

"So what're we watching now?" Kelly asked.

Casey went over to the pile of DVDs Otis had lent them, and picked up the one titled 'The Great Rupert', on the cover was a picture of Jimmy Durante and a squirrel standing upright in a kilt. It was enough to make the Truck captain scratch his head.

"What the hell? Let's check it out," he said as he went over to the TV to put it on.

Casey and Severide fell back against the couch laughing as the movie ended, they'd spent a better part of the last hour and a half laughing so hard they fell against each other and couldn't breathe.

"Oh man," Kelly finally said when he was able to get some air in him again, "that's a great movie. A dancing squirrel that robs from the rich and drops the money through the skylight, now there's a pet everybody should have."

Casey got out a few high pitched laughs before he was able to speak, and when he did he asked, "Where does Otis find this stuff?"

"I don't know, but for once I'm glad he does," Severide responded as he got up from the couch, "now let's see another one."

Casey leaned back against the couch and closed his eyes for a minute, then opened them again when he heard the music for the opening credits start. He stayed awake halfway through 'It Happened on 5th Avenue' and it was very funny too, but his eyelids gradually became heavier, and heavier, and every time he closed his eyes got longer, and longer...until he heard the sound of bells clanging and then heard 'Deck the Halls' being played on a horn, and he realized he knew that music, and opened his eyes and sat up on the couch and saw "A Christmas Story" was just beginning.

"Huh?" he groggily asked as he turned to look at Severide.

Kelly just shrugged and responded, "Nothing wrong with keeping a little tradition."

It took Casey a couple tries to figure out what he was saying, and he smiled, "Thanks."

Casey tried to stay awake through the movie, since it was one of his favorites, and he knew the only reason Kelly put it on was because of that, but he started nodding off again around the first appearance of Scut Farkus. Severide watched Casey falling asleep, and he felt sorry for the guy. It had been a long, hard week for everybody at 51 but Kelly knew Casey also had the emotional stress weighing on him of adapting to his first Christmas without Gabby in years, and though he tried to act like he was fine with it, it was obvious from watching him that he still hadn't settled into his new role as a single guy back on his own.

Kelly reached over and nudged Matt. "Hey Casey, wake up!"

Casey snorted and opened his eyes, "Huh, what? What is it?"

"Who do you think would win between the Gremlins and the Bumpus hounds?" Severide asked.

"Huh?" Casey asked as he sat up straight.

"Think about it, if the Gremlins were in this movie," Kelly pointed to the screen, "who do you think would win?"

"Huh?" Casey repeated, he looked at the movie and said, "I don't know."

"If they were, do you think Mrs. Parker would be able to mutilate them like Billy's mom did, or do you think her screaming would be enough to drive them off?" Severide asked him.

"What?" Casey looked at him.

"Think about it," Kelly said, and did a high pitched impression of the "A Christmas Story" mom's hysterical screams.

Now Casey was wide awake and hopping off the couch as he demanded to know, "What have you been drinking?"

Once Casey realized that Severide wasn't drunk, or crazy, he sat back down on the couch and the two watched the movie, and inevitably started discussing it, and quoting it, and talking back to the screen. At one point Casey got up to get them a couple of fresh beers, and just as he started drinking his, Severide snorted like a pig to coincide with the dinner segment, causing Casey to simultaneously choke on his beer and feel part of it shoot out his nose. Casey screamed and moaned in pain and pinched his nose shut as he felt his nostrils burning clear down to his throat. With his free hand he reached over and slapped Severide on the arm, yelling at him in a nasal voice, "What the hell is the matter with you?"

"I'm sorry!" Kelly got out over his hysterical laughter.

Casey continued to moan and groan in pain for a couple minutes all the while Severide just laughed at his misery, then it finally subsided. He finally let go of his nose, then reached over and hit Kelly again, "Don't do that again."

"I'm sorry," he replied with another laugh, "I didn't know you'd do that."

Much as Casey tried to be angry with him, he found himself laughing as well.

They got halfway through the movie when Severide looked over and saw Casey had fallen asleep again. He decided this time he'd leave Matt alone and let him rest. He got up and turned off the lights, now it was just the TV and the Christmas tree lighting up the room, the tree looked a lot more impressive in the dark. Kelly sat back down beside Casey and resumed watching the movie.

Severide wasn't aware he'd fallen asleep but he was suddenly aware that he had his eyes closed and he could hear an instrumental version of 'We Wish you a Merry Christmas' playing and it slowly dawned on him it was the ending credits for the movie. He also realized that something was pressing against his shoulder and his whole arm felt dead. He picked his head up and opened his eyes and realized Casey had fallen against him in his sleep, and stayed that way. Kelly nudged Casey over so he could get his arm out from under him and shake some circulation back into it. As soon as he raised his arm, Casey fell right back against him and drooped his head on Severide's shoulder again.

Kelly tried nudging him again, "Wake up, Casey."

But Matt was dead to the world, and if Kelly had to guess, would be for the rest of the night. Kelly sighed and reached over for the remote and shut off the TV. Now the Christmas tree was the only light in the room, and in otherwise total darkness, it was almost hypnotic. All those lights, all those colors, the millions of tiny shining lights as the illumination from the bulbs reflected on the tinsel, on the garland, and through the clear glass ornaments and the silver and metallic painted balls. The angel on top had stopped blinking and was now just a glowing orange from top to bottom, the two red bulbs in its hands the only color to contrast it. It really was like nothing Kelly had ever seen before, he found himself staring at it in awe.

He reached over and shook Casey to try and wake him, "Casey, wake up, you gotta see this."

But all Casey did was grumble something in his sleep and turn his head to the side as he rested against his best friend.

Severide looked at the clock and weighed his options. He could get up, lay Casey out on the couch and show himself out and head back to his apartment, or, he could put his training to use and carry Casey's unconscious body to the bedroom and properly put him to bed, or...Kelly thought of a third option that would be very difficult to live down if anybody outside of the apartment ever found out about. Oh, hell with it, his dignity could survive one night.

Kelly put one arm around Casey to steady him, then raised one leg onto the couch and slipped his foot under Casey's knee to maneuver him so they'd both be in a more comfortable position, and slowly scooted back and dragged Casey with him so they were both lying on the couch on their sides. It was a tight fit, and awkward to say the least, but for one night he could deal with it. The truth of the matter was if Casey would happen to wake up during the night, Kelly wanted him to be able to see the lights; he'd seen his fair share of Christmas trees, a lot of them decorated very well, but there was something about this one that was just stunning. He couldn't put his finger on it, he didn't know if Casey would be able to either, but it was something he just had to see without the interruption of any other lights in the room.

Severide reached behind him and pulled the heavy afghan off the back of the couch and slowly got it unfolded and draped it over both of them, Casey murmured something in his sleep but was otherwise out like a light.

Kelly pushed up on his elbow so he hovered just over Casey, and watched him for a few seconds while he slept peacefully. He leaned down, kissed Matt on the cheek and whispered, "Merry Christmas, Casey."

Casey felt his chest rise and drop as he breathed. His eyes were closed but he was gradually waking up. He felt warm and content, even though his back was stiff from sleeping on his side. It was slowly occurring to him that he wasn't in his bed, but he wasn't sure then where he was. He moved to turn over and instead he felt something against his back, and he realized it was another person. That sped up the process a bit, he opened his eyes groggily and asked, "Huh? Wha?" and turned his head to see who it was.

Before Casey's eyes fully focused, he felt a strong arm snake around his waist and heard a very familiar voice, speaking too cheerily to just be waking up himself, "Morning, Casey."

"Severide? What the hell?" Casey rubbed his eyes.

He saw Kelly grinning down at him clearer now, all Severide said in response was, "So apparently we're both getting older, we both fell asleep before the movie was over."

Casey yawned, completely oblivious to their enclosed sleeping arrangements, and asked him, "How long have you been up?"

"About an hour."

"Huh?" Casey jerked with a start, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"Oh I couldn't do that, you just looked so cute," Severide teased with a big grin on his face.

Casey grumbled and elbowed him in the stomach.

"Besides," Kelly added as he nodded his head towards the tree, "this thing's amazing to look at in the dark."

Casey turned his head to look to the front and he too saw the Christmas tree in all its glory in the quiet and otherwise dark apartment. He found himself looking at it in silent amazement, it hadn't looked like that when they decorated it, he knew it wouldn't look like that once the sun was up...if it was up. He looked over at the windows he'd forgotten to cover and saw it had snowed overnight, there was a layer of white covering the bottom of the panes outside, contrasting to the otherwise pitch darkness out there. The contrast was unbelievable.

"Oh wow," he barely whispered.

"Neat, ain't it?" Kelly asked.

Casey pushed the afghan back and started to sit up, Severide took advantage of the space available and did the same.

"You know, I was going to tell you something last night," Kelly said.

Casey turned back towards him, "What's that?"

"You were wrong...you're not alone for Christmas this year," Severide told him.

Casey looked at him as he took that in, and a small smile formed on his face. "Thanks, Kelly."