# RESCUE SQUAD.

send a symbol for our muses to:

🌲  ─  visit a tree farm to pick the perfect christmas tree 🎄  ─  decorate a christmas tree together 💋  ─  be caught standing under the mistletoe 🍽  ─  prepare the christmas dinner together 🍪  ─  bake & decorate christmas/holiday-themed sugar cookies ☕️   ─  drink something warm and/or festive ( either at home, at a coffeeshop, christmas market, etc… ) 🏠  ─  decorate a gingerbread house together 🎬  ─  watch a christmas movie 🎭  ─  see a christmas musical/play at the theater 🔥  ─  have an indoor picnic by the fireplace and/or christmas tree 🌟  ─  drive around the city to see the christmas lights ✉️  ─  send each other a christmas card 🎅🏻  ─  be each other’s secret santa 🎁  ─  exchange & open chistmas presents 🛍   ─  go christmas shopping together 👕   ─  go out wearing matching christmas sweaters  🎉   ─  attend a holiday party together 📷   ─  have a holiday photoshoot 🎶   ─  go christmas caroling  💃   ─  dance around the living room to christmas songs 💖   ─  volunteer together at a local charity  ✈️   ─  go on a christmas getaway ✏️   ─  create their own christmas/holiday tradition 😈  ─  decide who has been the naughtiest and the nicest and give each other rewards & consequences accordingly  ( can be funny/platonic or sexy/nsfɯ, depending on muses’ relationship ) 🃏   ─  wildcard !  choose your own activity !

Yeah, I think we can figure it out. I'm gonna let you two Einsteins handle that.

her life is always fast phased, and maybe she was a bit of a workaholic. outside of work, she still hung out with her team, especially emily and pen. barely had contact with her family anymore & her team had become that. trusted them, she had let them in ( at least further than most. ) and for a time, that's all she needed. then kelly came into her life, slowly got under her skin. it was supposed to just be fun. easy. and to be quite honest, it's still that. she just . . . she isn't quite sure what she would do, if he decided to walk away. if he figures this isn't what he wants anymore & leave her behind. it's a strange feeling if she is honest. because yeah, they have been going steady lately. exclusive. been together longer than any of her past relationships. but they've never talked about what exactly they are.

he's got a key to her apartment now tho. and he met the team she works with every day. she's met the people he work with & somehow she doesn't feel the need to cut things off here. make a clean break. this feeling she gets when being with him, the peace, how everything settles for a few moments, she doesn't want to be without it. just enjoy those moments they have together. a soft hum and smile grows when nose rub against hers, fingers thread through his hair before resting at the back of his neck. a snort escapes her & there is a playful little roll of eyes. yeah, she wasn't the most tidy person out there. can't exactly hide it either. not that she really tried that hard. " yeah, yeah, yeah, i don't really see the point in making the bed when you're just gonna sleep in it anyways, " looks pretty, but who's gonna see her bed except herself and him ? plus, she liked that her place looked lived in, not taken out of some magazine.

severide, kelly ... ▇▇▇ they weren't too official, yet they've both been introduced to the work families who were so much more family to both of them than anyone else in the world - anyone but them. maybe he was scared, and maybe that was stupid. they both saw it, in the lines of their duties. how a life could be taken too soon, so fast. gone in the blink of an eye, leaving a hollow hole and grief behind itself. it wasn't something he was blind to. of course he knows he's going to have to tell her at one point. tell her, not just show her. let her know how important she is to him - how loved she is. not just by her family at work, but by his too ... by him too.

they're in the safety of her home, a home that felt a whole lot like home to kelly too. but it wasn't the building, it was who was behind the door to the apartment, it was her. it was coming home to jennifer after a long day at work. it was seeing her smile, seeing her tug her hair loose from the high ponytail when she came home. watching her be at ease, happy and safe at home. he was addicted to that feeling - the one that grew and spread in his chest when he was right here, in the midst of this.

" how much? " wiggling his brows at her, just to tease her. it's not a competition, but he loves hearing that he's been in her thoughts too. they facetimed the night before his shift, the morning of the shift too. but they'd both been too busy while he was on shift. it had been a long one, and he hadn't gotten any sleep. he'd been too restless when he finally had the time, so he just sat down and wrote his reports for the night. " i'm so glad to be home. " kelly breathes out the words, not realizing the weight they carry, or what they reveal. how they tell her that home wasn't the apartment - that he hadn't been home since she left. but that home was her. that home had a heartbeat. + @stilloves.

it   is   so   easy   for   mind   to   wander   during   those   mundane   activities   ,    the   ones   that   do   not   require   brain   -   effort   .       hands   are   kept   busy   ,    loosely   organizing   gauze   in   the   back   of   the   paramedic   truck   .       maw   is   twisted   ,    brows   pulled   .     ‘   oh   my   god   ,   ’        mock   -   shock   presents   ,    lips   forming   oval   in   shape   ,       ‘   you're   right   .       think   i'm   losing   my   touch   ?   ’     tone   is   teasing   -   sweet   ,    smile   as   warm   as   the   sun   to   follow   .     ‘   yeah   ,    idiot   ,    i'm   fine   .       just   putting   my   organizational   skills   to   the   test   while   we   have   a   little   bit   of   down   time   .       god   only   knows   that's   hard   to   come   by   in   a   house   as   busy   as   51   .   ’        busy   hands   pause   ,    gaze   finding   squad   table   .     cruz   ,    cap   ,    and   tony   gathered   around   the   table   engrossed   in   inaudible   conversation   .     ‘   how   ‘bout   you   ?       had   enough   of   the   three   stooges   for   one   afternoon   ?   ’        smile   blossoms   ,    cherry   -   red   and   playful   .

❪    @squadthree    says    ,     you    okay    ?    you    haven't    called    me    dipshit    all    day    .     ❫

severide, kelly ... ▇▇▇ there was a bond of family at the firehouse, it was no secret. they didn't love strangers coming into their turf, but if they stuck around - they became part of that family. lizzy knew his kid, his wife and his kid's mothers. little baby shay would always talk about the new paramedic and how cool she was, and well.. kelly did care for the younger female like a sister of his own - who even knew how many of those he had. shaking his head with a sighed laugh at the thought. if he doesn't laugh ... it just hurts. but he noticed something seemed to be up today, the lack of typical banter was what warned him that something might be up. so he found her with a tease.

" don't know about your touch, kid. just wanna know about you. " and he means it. he meant to come and check up on her - to hear how she's doing, make sure the house is still where she wants to be - because honestly? he doesn't want to lose more family. shrugging his shoulders as he grabs some gauze, playing with it between his fingers, but he can't help the laugh that escapes him when her glance stride towards squad's table - which wasn't far from the ambulance. " i guess, " kelly grins as he shoots them a glance. " cruz wants us ... to go on a guy's trip - to vegas. like i'm not married, and a dad. like i'm not too old to go to vegas and get drunk for an entire weekend. i'm afraid i'd never recover ... i'm giving you too much ammunition right now. this isn't good for any of us, "

for a few years, home had been something she dreaded. a time where school was a place of freedom and any extracurricular activities were more than welcome. it simply meant more time away. nine when she was taken away from the house she knew as home, fourteen when she was taken in by a family she still has contact with and they showed her what home should feel like. a family she still consider her own to this day. and then, it's shifting again, now. somehow.

because home was always a place to her, at least up until this point. it was coming home to the scent of eleanor's cookies when opening the door. it was hearing elias curse at the tv when his team was loosing, but knowing he would never raise his voice to any of them. it was building blanket forts with victoria and finn, eating candy and watching movies on the weekends. it was feeling safe after years of undertainty. it was not having to walk silently, make sure not to breath too loud, hoping your dad wouldn't get angry or your mom was drunk on the kitchen floor in the morning, too gone to do anything. that's what home had been since fourteen. and she think it'll always be a bit of her considering it home, even if she had moved out years ago. had her own life, her own career, had her own hobbies and people, and she had her . . . kelly.

and she can't lie, there's this moment where it bubble like panic in her throat. because that's just who she is. she runs when it gets a little too serious. a little too vulnerable. she cut her losses and takes an easy out. she pick at the thread until everything unravels and then blame people for not staying. so when he isn't asking, he is more telling her, she doesn't . . . she can't deny it. a part of her wants it with him. a very big part of her, and somehow it's winning over the nerves settling. slight nod of her head while watching him, and she lets out a breath, one it feels like she has been holding in for too long. a smile tug at the corner of lips and she takes a step closer, arms wrap around the back of his neck. " okay. "

severide, kelly ... ▇▇▇ for the longest time, if not for all of his life, kelly severide had walked the world feeling homeless. sure, he had the house his parents once lived in together - the same house his father had abandoned for new families. more than kelly even knew about, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. he was the first one, and he often asked himself if he was a mistake. someone who shouldn't have been born? if benny regrets becoming a father in the first place, or if he likes the thrill of a newborn grabbing onto his larger finger with a tiny hand? - only to leave them when they know his face. maybe kelly was the lucky one ... he had benny until he was fourteen, but honestly, it felt worse than never really knowing him. he saw the fights, he saw how much his father's cheating had ruined his mother. neither of them were really parents. and then he was grown up, all on his own. with all the scars and hollowness of his parents, things he was forced to try and fix on his own.

he slept around a lot, hated being alone. the only way he truly ever felt comfort was with touch. words had proven not to mean anything, they held no true value. they could be taken back so easily, betrayed and erased. but a good kiss, a hug. more than that. he lived for that. hated coming home to an empty place - so he always had a roommate. until leslie shay, his last roommate. no one could ever take her place - and he never wanted anyone to do so either. she had been the light of his life, the one who made him feel less broken, like he wasn't walking ruin. but then she died, she was taken from him - and he wasn't sure he'd ever heal from that again. not even sure he wants to.

and then enter sydney. she wasn't something planned, she came into his life when he wasn't looking for something - wasn't searching for the one, but there she was. also bruised and scarred from former parents and making a life for herself. she was impressive and inspiring and he loves her so much, so wrapping his arms around her. kissing her shoulder like she belongs came so easily, because she does belong. and kelly? (you belong, you belong, you belong) and he can finally breathe. " okay. " he whispers back to her tiny response. because while they had homes now, hers with her family - kelly with fifty one. they were still strangers to being someone's home - to being enough.

it's not the first time she has gotten a late night call about a new case, and since kelly was on call, it's not like she has anything better to do anyways. tho, there was a child involved, she doubts she'd sit at home even if he was off work. heels softly click against the hospital floors as she walk into the ward, stopping my the nurses station to ask for his name. and when shown into the room by one of the nurses, eyes drift from the empty bed she expected him to be in, and to the couch where someone very familiar was sitting, a sleeping boy curled up next to him. and for a moment she just takes it in. for someone who was pretty sure kids weren't in her future, not her own anyways, her friends had plenty by now, but this kinda stirr something in her chest. something they haven't quite talked about yet, something big and permanent and not as scary as she might have thought it would be.

" hi, " keeps her voice low as to not wake the boy as she walks further into the room, her handbag put down on the floor, hands flatten down the front of her skirt, before sitting down across from them, leaning forward and arms wrap around her knees. a little less rigid than what she would usually be in a situation like this. the boy, jake, it was good to see he felt safe enough to fall asleep, if only for a few moments. that he'd found a safe harbor of sorts, when his life as he knew it was falling apart. " how is he ? "

severide, kelly ... ▇▇▇ kelly was called onto scene - one where a kid had been missing inside the burning building, and the lieutenant had been the one to find the little boy, jake, and saved his life by convincing him to climb out to him. and that's how he ended here. the kid was scared out of his mind, and kelly was the one adult he trusted right now, so he followed him to the hospital, planning to smoothing out the hand over to a doctor or nurse - but the little boy refused, and would feel bad any time kelly tried to leave.. so in the end he decided to stay, convinced by the cutest little voice, and the strong hold that tiny hand had on his own.

see, he knows the sound of those heels against the hospital floor. he might just be gaslighting himself, but he was quite sure he would see his girlfriend at any moment now. the same woman who was off work for the night, but were any of them really - especially when someone needed their help? so he smiles at her, giving a soft nod in greeting, since his one entire arm was used as a pillow by the little kid. " hi, " he whispers back, speaking in low tones, so they were careful not to wake up that little life who'd been through entirely too much the past few hours. " he's so brave - any news on the parents? " he wasn't too hopeful. he saw the fire, and he knew the parents' state wasn't great when the first couple of ambulances took off with them.

alabaster   canines   emerge   from   behind   cherry’d   tiers   ,     ‘   oh   ,    that’s   how   we’re   playing   now   ?   ’     glass   presses   to   coaster   already   blanketed   in   moisture   ,    hand   resting   ‘pon   bar   top   .     ‘   you   know   how   hectic   this   case   has   been   ,    kelly   ,   ’     but   grin   blossoms   ,    fingers   a   delicate   shadow   over   his   knuckles   .     ‘   so   ,    tell   me   ,    what   do   i   have   to   do   pull   information   about   today’s   activities   at   51   outta   you   ?   ’     tone   is   tantalizing   -   sweet   ,    whilst   pools   of   cerulean   are   vigilant   .

      ❪     @squadthree    says    ,     this    long    ,     no    see    ?     you    don't    get    to    know    .     ❫

severide, kelly ... ▇▇▇ there's a cheeky grin when he taunts her with his words. he watches her, with nothing but love and affection in his blues. she'd been busy - and between that and him working twenty-four hours shift, they'd barely gotten to see each other. and honestly, he just misses her. but telling her about his feelings seemed a lot harder than to joke about them. like if he teases her enough - maybe she'd realize that his heart had an echo now, where it was used to be full of her laughter from mornings they were both almost late for the day - simply because they couldn't leave the sheets. he takes a sip from his beer, a shrug is quick to follow. she didn't have to pull anything from him, he was trying to be an open book with her.

" i know. this case stole my girlfriend from me, if anyone knows - it has to be me. " because the rest of hailey's team all dated each other. he was the outsider, the one who had to sit and wait at home, something he's really damn bad at. " what would you like to know about 51 ? i think i'm at a point where i would tell you anything if it means that you're coming home on the right side of p.m. tonight, " and he means it. he hates going to sleep on his own. not that he's scared of sleep, but not knowing where she is - not knowing if she'll be there in the morning, or if he'll wake from the fact that her body wouldn't be in their bed when he reaches to pull her into his own embrace.

severide, kelly ... ▇▇▇ shay would've loved to hear about how kelly had found someone who wasn't exploiting him. someone who cared about him - just because they wanted to, just because kelly was the person he ended up being. rough around the edges, jagged pieces of grief and pain shining through - but nonetheless, a man who loves with everything he has in this life. he loves with his whole being, and he wouldn't pause that for anyone. he learned after a while that the way he loves was actually the one part about himself he couldn't ever hate. he'd managed to allow himself some attachment. and then she died, but he was trying again. god knew he was trying - a god kelly doesn't believe in. he'd lost too much for that, to think that there was some higher meaning with all the crap they surround themselves with. but everyone who knew kelly knew he was still trying, every single day.

" about how you make me smile, " kelly trails off with a (slightly) bashful grin, that grew from the fact that smiling wasn't the thing he'd been thinking about before. shay would've been head over heels with the fact that kelly was seeing a guy. not some random woman he'd met in a bar and stumbled home late with, but someone he works with. someone he has great respect for - professionally, personally. and everything in between. " she would've loved to hear about how happy we are. i'd like to think she knows, " he really hopes so. he might not believe in some god, but he's praying for a chance to see her again. to tell andy darden about his boys - how they're blossoming into young men under casey's care, and to hug his best friend in the entire universe, existence - whatever it is out there - again. " breakfast.. " the lieutenant nods slowly, the hint of a smirk returning to his lips. " depends. is it fifty one breakfast - or eating in the buckley kitchen breakfast? those are vastly different, and i obviously have a personal favorite. "