✓VEGAS [CHICAGO FIRE]

four.

  ╔═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══╗

𝐟𝐨𝐮𝐫: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭
𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧.

╚═══*.·:·.✧ ✦ ✧.·:·.*═══╝

When Matt, Gabby, and Kelly came home after their shift, they found a pot of porridge still hot on the stove along with gallons of ice cream in the fridge. Kelly went to his bedroom and found Maddie sleeping soundly despite the time being only 10 PM. After helping themselves to some food (with Matt commenting on their new room-mate's odd sleeping pattern), they all went to bed after a long shift and an even longer night at Molly's.

A few hours into his sleep, Kelly could hear the shuffling of feet and he woke up to find the lights on and Maddie looking really worried. She was wearing her blouse backwards and pair of mismatched socks were on her feet. He groggily sits up, rubbing the sleep away with his hand.

"Mads," Kelly calls out sofly. "Maddie, hey. What's going on?"

"I don't have the color brown." Maddie, who now sat at the foot of her bed and was putting on her Converse, answers him.

Kelly's eyes land on the canvas right by her door and already propped up with a wooden stand. The chair from the dresser is placed right in front of it and a paint palette is placed on top of it. A sketch of a smiling face occupies the white canvas. He vaguely remembers Maddie telling him that she attended art school. With Shay's death possibly being arson and dealing with the photographs from last shift, Kelly forgot that detail about her.

"I need the color brown." Maddie stresses and quickly ties her hair into a messy bun.

Tubes of acrylic paint line up the beside table and he spots the color Maddie was looking for. Kelly grabs it and moves closer to the foot of the bed to show his distressed wife. "Found it." He chimes and makes a move to kiss her cheek in an attempt to calm her down.

Before his lips could land on her cheek, Maddie abruptly stands up and stomps her foot down, creating a loud thump sound. He prayed that Gabby and Matt were heavy sleepers. "No!" Maddie exclaims, "His eyes weren't chestnut brown, Kelly!"

Maddie was now pacing back and forth. The only time he saw her cry was before they got married. He talked about losing his best and she talked about her father. Kelly was willing to bet that the reason she was close to tears at three in the morning was the same reason why she had broken down in front of him that night in Vegas.

"It's a mix between burnt umber and chocolate brown!" Maddie continues on as the tears now form in her eyes. "And I don't have either one. Ugh!"

Kelly quickly gets up from the bed and throws on some jeans and a clean shirt from the closet. "What are you doing?" Maddie asks once he puts his shoes on and grabs his jacket. "I can find brown paint on my own, Kelly."

"I know." He says and opens the door, "But, if you think I'm letting you go out alone at three in the morning in a city with a crime rate so high, think again." Without another word, Maddie follows him out of the apartment and into his car.

─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───

The car was in silence. No, Maddie hadn't found any brown paint. Her smart-ass didn't think over the fact that it was three in the morning and no store would be open at that time. Instead, the couple just drove around town until they were back at their temporary apartment.

Maddie sat in the passenger seat, fiddling with her hands. Her leg was nervously bouncing and she swore she could taste the metallic flavor of blood on her lower-lip as she kept biting it down.

"You mind telling me what that was about, Maddie?"

"I—uhm—I had a dream about my dad. It was before the accident—before he was. . .you know. He seemed so happy and, when I woke up, I still had the picture of his smile in my mind and I knew I just had to paint it. I had to paint everything—from the way the corners of his eye crinkled and the little dimple on his left cheek. I'm scared all I'll remember is him being in pain. . ."

She was starting to get choked up. Tears formed in her eyes as she remembers the first man who she had ever loved; the first and only person who encouraged and supported her for her passion in the arts. Kelly's hand reaches hers and Maddie grips it so tight as if it was a lifeline keeping her in the real world. She guessed she was just tired of slipping away.

Kelly sees that she was holding back the tears and breaks the silence. "You have that dimple too." He tells her and takes a deep breath. His body turns to her and his hands moved to cup her tear-stained face. "The accident wasn't your fault, Maddie. We, as first responders, try our best to save everyone but sometimes it just doesn't work out. Your life isn't any less than his."

She nods as if she's trying to put his words into her mind. It was hard to believe that something that happened almost a year ago still got to her. Maddie used to think that her dad would be around to see some grandkid from her. But, alas, fate had other plans and now it was just her, over-bearing yet loving mother, and an estranged older sister who were left with Boy Cojuangco's legacy.

"Thank you." Maddie whispers, her voice breaking. "I'm sorry I made you get up at a time like this. I'll try not to do it again. I promise."

"Hey." Kelly says softly as he briefly tucks in a strand of her hair behind her ear. "Hey, it's okay. For better and for worse right?"

Maddie nods and kisses him square on the lips. It felt nice how Kelly's lips perfectly molded into hers or how their hands looked so right together (eve if his were more calloused than hers) or how he just understood her. "Ditto, Kelly Severide."