Chapter Text
Casey couldn't keep the smile off his face when Hallie walked through the elegant wooden door Dawson had picked out for the bar. Oh he knew that he probably shouldn't dare to hope, that she probably hadn't changed her mind on having a family, but he was still happy to see her. At the end of the day, they were still friends first and had been together for years. They may not want the same things out of a relationship, but they could still talk and meet up and well, other things.
And hey. maybe she had changed her mind. He could only hope anyway. There wasn't anything wrong with grabbing a coffee and catching up. Right?
He didn't quite know what to do other than to smile when they arrived at the cafe, he was just so surprised to see her. Drinking their coffee in comfortable silence, as if they’d never been apart wasn't as awkward as he'd expected it to be considering how it had ended the last time, it was as if they were just continuing from where they had left off.
He hated that he wasn't sure about all this, Hallie turning up made things more complicated than he needed right now, and with what they had found at the end of their shift, it looked like it was going to get more complicated. As much as he missed her and wanted her back, he also would rather she be away from everything until it was cleared up again.
"You okay, Matt?" Hallie looked worriedly at him.
He smiled at her, "I'm fine.", he knew it was his standard answer, but he didn't see any point in worrying her right now, not when he didn't know what it meant yet. Voight was still behind bars as well which helped a little but then how has Curtis been found and who else knew about it.
She gave him a look as if to say she didn't believe him but then that was normal as well. He smiled again and they chatted about what they had been doing over the past few months.
After and few more minutes of chatting, Matt began to feel groggy and a little nauseous, maybe he had been working too hard recently and was coming down with something. Or maybe he'd just drunk too much coffee, and his body needed to sleep rather than be kept awake.
The silence only became awkward when they'd finished their drinks and didn't know what to do next.
"So..."
"Shall..."
They spoke at the same time; they looked at each other and smiled and Casey indicated to Hallie that she should continue first.
"I should probably let you get some rest."
Thinking about it, he was starting to feel the past few days catch up to him, maybe, if he rain-checked, and got some rest, he'd feel up to catching a movie with her later in the day as long as she wasn't back on shifts yet.
He was about to ask her as they stood up, but he stumbled slightly and grabbed the table for support, suddenly dizzy and feeling rather warm, maybe he really was coming down with something, he sighed, that's just what he needed.
"You sure you're okay, Matt?" She looked worried now, grabbing for him, “What’s going on Matt?”
He sat down again and looked up at her but felt a little disconnected from his surroundings, brain foggy, sounds dulled; then the feeling went as quick as it came so he stood up tall, pretending that everything was fine because it was. Right?
"Come on, Matt, let me take you home." Her voice was getting further away, and he could feel her small hands leading him away from the café.
He found himself agreeing through sheer exhaustion that had settled deep into his bones. Hallie was safe and would look after him, she’s always had. Especially when he had a talent of not looking after himself when he was busy or stressed.
During the journey home he found that he struggled to keep his eyes open; body lethargic and heavy, scenery rushing past, too quick to really take it in fully.
He was losing track of time every time he blinked the scenery would change from familiar to not and back again. The journey was taking a bit longer than normal and attempted to open his heavy eyelids to no avail. There was something dragging him down into unconscious oblivion and he couldn’t stop it, not even if he wanted to.
Something that wasn't down to him just being tired.
Thoughts were muddling together in his mind, and he couldn't find one single line of thought to concentrate on. Something was wrong, he'd been given something.
Drugged.
His breathes became shallower as his consciousness started slipping away, like sand through his fingers.
Maybe... it was Voight, but then he was still in prison...but then again....they’d just found Curtis dead...and it wouldn't take too much for someone to slip something into a drink...damn!
What about Hallie?
"Hallie?" His voice was thin and strained past the numbness of sleep that was creeping through his body.
Maybe. she'd been drugged as well, putting her in danger driving.
His head moved sluggishly round to look at her.
Hallie!
But the words couldn’t make it passed his dry lips.
Except, she looked fine.
Before Casey fell unconscious in the passenger seat of Hallie's car, speeding away from his house, he knew he was in trouble.
There was a cold pit in his gut which wasn’t helped by what sounded like her making a call to someone unknown; and just before he was pulled into oblivion, said something that turned his blood cold.
“I’m sorry.”
And that was the last thing Matt Casey heard.
TBC