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Kelly sits in his chair at the Squad table, fiddling with the box in his hands. "Kelly? Is that what I think it is?", he hears from behind him, turning to see Matt walking towards him.
"Depends. What do you think it is?", Kelly says, looking at Matt as he flops down into one of the chairs around the table, even though he wasn't on squad. He was the only one allowed to sit at their table.
"An "I'm too scared to actually propose" ring that you've had in your locker since January.", the blonde says and Kelly slumps forward, dropping the ring on the table.
"I know, I know. You're right. I just... I could die one of these days, and I don't want to leave him behind.", Kelly says, and Matt snatches the ring up, clicking the box open even though he's seen it a million times.
"Well, that's what my hesitation was with Sylvie, and now we're going apartment shopping. Just do what you think is right.", Matt says, walking away after putting the ring back in-front of Kelly.
Kelly looks at the ring, opening the box again and looking at the plain white-gold band encased in the velvet. He can imagine it on Jay's hand, looking perfect. But he can also imagine leaving his boyfriend behind because of a fire gone wrong, or a stupid decision made by the wrong person.
He doesn't want to hurt Jay like that, but he also doesn't know if he can handle being just boyfriends for the rest of his life. They haven't even said I love you, not really, and Kelly just wants to blurt it from the rooftops, but each time he's held back by doubts. They've been together for almost 7 years, and Jay practically lives at Kelly's place, even though both of them insist that he doesn't, but still something's holding him back.
Capp comes and sits in the chair that was just vacated by Matt, and his eyes are peering at the ring.
"Oooo, got a ring, Severide? Gonna pop the question?", Capp says, teasing his Lieutenant as the bells go off.
"Oh shut it, Capp."
Kelly doesn't have time to take the ring back to his locker, so he shoves it in his shirt pocket, running to his turnout gear.
When the address comes through, it takes everything in Kelly not to drive the truck out of the station by himself, waiting for what seems like forever for Cruz to get in the vehicle and drive towards police headquarters. The building's on fire, and almost all the detectives are outside the building, sitting on the sidewalk.
Almost all of them.
Kelly's heart drops when he can't see Jay, and he's on his knees, putting his gear on faster than he's ever done it. He's the first in the building, dodging flames and hearing the rest of his brothers behind him.
Kelly goes so fast through the flames, he almost misses Jay. Jay's on the floor of the hallway, head down and army-crawling. Kelly drops down, looping an arm around Jay and picking him up. Jay struggles against the firefighter, not recognizing him through the smoke.
"Jay! Babe! Stop it!", Kelly says, and Jay stops moving, his chest heaving in the smoke-heavy hallway. Kelly's just taken off his oxygen mask and given it to Jay when the smoke drops to the ground and Kelly reacts in an instant. He shoves Jay into the nearest room, slamming the door closed and holding it with his body weight as something explodes in the hallway, Kelly shaking with the blast.
Jay's standing in the middle of the room, which is alight with fire, and Kelly doesn't open the door as he feels it getting hot, fast.
"Matt? This is Kelly. I've got Jay in a room on the 2nd floor, trapped by the fire.", Kelly says, and he hears a crackly confirmation back and something about sending up a ladder.
"Kelly? What do we do?", Jay says, and Kelly looks over at his boyfriend. Jay rarely calls him Kelly, so when he does, Kelly knows that it's serious.
"We wait. They'll be here any second. Try and stay low to the ground.", Kelly said, pushing against the door with his entire weight, despite the sweat beading on his neck and forehead.
"Kelly, I- I lo-, Jay starts, interrupted by the window shattering and Matt's face appearing in the opening.
"Alright Jay, you first. Are you hurt? Everything feel alright?", Matt says, his questions fading as Jay climbs out of the window and down the ladder, both the blonde and the cop disappearing for a second before Cruz's face is there.
"Severide? You ready?", Cruz says and Kelly nods.
"Back up, I'm gonna have to jump.", Kelly says, and Cruz takes two steps down the ladder. Kelly takes a deep breath, gritting his teeth and steeling himself before running towards the window and jumping, blindly reaching for the ladder and gripping on when he has the rung in his grasp. There's a hot burst of fire behind him, leaving his jacket singed, the name burned, and someone yells from below them.
"KELLY!"
Kelly doesn't react, his shoulder jerking painfully as the smoke clears and Kelly comes to a stop hanging from the top rung of the ladder. He reaches up with another hand, both of his shoulders pulling as he holds onto the ladder with a iron grip. Cruz is there in an instant, pulling on Severide's arms and pulling him up on the ladder.
"You good, Severide?", Cruz asks and Severide nods, still shaky as he climbs down the ladder.
He gets to the bottom, rolling out his shoulders and taking off his jacket as the engine starts hosing down the remnants of the police building. "Kelly! God...", Jay says, running away from Sylvie and wrapping his arms around Kelly, who holds him tight right back.
"Are you okay? Nothing hurt?", Kelly says, subconsciously wrapping his burnt jacket around Jay's shoulders and scanning him up and down.
"I'm fine, are you alright? I thought you were going to die up there and I was honestly terrified, because I never got to say I love you.", Jay said, spilling it out in one big sentence with those three little words tacked on the end.
"You what..?", Kelly said, not sure if he had heard right.
"I love you, but I get it if you can't say it back-"Jay says, cut off by Kelly's lips on his.
"I love you too and God this was gonna be so much better than this but will you marry me?", Kelly says as he pulls away, and everything freezes.
"W-What?", Jay says, and Kelly pulls away before dropping to a knee. He's aware that most of his firehouse and several bystanders are staring, but he could care less.
"Jay Halstead, life is short, I think today proves that. I just want to ask, that is, will you do me the favor of making that life the best it could possibly be and marry me?", Kelly says, saying the words he's rehearsed to himself several times as he pops the ring out of his shirt pocket.
Kelly knows they must make a picture, both of them smoke stained and Jay wearing his turnout coat, but Kelly knows that if someone got a picture of this, he would keep it forever, framed and hanging on a wall. Well, if Jay says yes.
"Oh God... fucking finally. Yes!", Jay says, the first part almost a whisper. Jay pulls Kelly up by his collar, lifting the firefighter till their lips are even and then kissing him passionately. Kelly returns the kiss, both of them fighting for dominance.
Kelly hears a wolf-whistle, and out of the corner of his eye he can see Matt and a couple members of squad trading money, but Kelly's attention is soon pulled back to Jay. The two men separate, breathless, and Kelly remembers the ring in his hand, pulling it out of the velvet box with a gentle tug.
The box gets tucked back into Kelly's shirt pocket, and the ring is slid onto Jay's finger gently, both men taking a minute to admire it. Jay leans into Kelly's chest, and the grey-haired man kisses the top of his head.
Jay coughs pushing away from Kelly for a second. "Okay, that we cute and all but before we go and celebrate later, you need to shower. You smell all smoky.", Jay says, and Kelly grins.
"Of course, fiance.", the firefighter says and Jay grins.