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When Ritter first approached Gallo with the idea, he was hesitant. Sure Casey had given him the recipe but left him with no guidance. He knew that Casey rarely cooked and he didn’t wanna ruin the specialness of the corned beef. And besides he hadn’t ever made it before. He definitely didn’t want to ruin it.
He told Ritter that he’d consider it but he knew Ritter could read his concerns that were written all over his face.
“Don’t you still call Casey to keep him updated on the house?”
“Yeah. Why?”
Ritter rolls his eyes, “dude just call Casey and ask about it during the call”
“Even if I get Casey’s permission, that doesn’t guarantee I won’t mess it up”
“You’ll do fine. At least consider talking to Casey about it please?”
Gallo nods and stands up, “it’s getting late. I should probably get home soon if I want to catch Casey”
Gallo spends the drive home mulling it over, the house is tense right now and he knows that Casey’s corn beef would really help, but it also hasn’t been made since Casey left. What if it brought up old memories. By the time he got home he had made a decision, he would call Casey and ask his advice. Casey always knew what to do.
Gallo grabbed himself another beer and sat down on the couch. It was now or never, but his hand lingered over the call button, what if Casey was busy. What if he was spending time with the boys, after all that was the reason he was in Oregon.
“Stop it! It can’t hurt to just call”
Gallo quickly pressed the call button before he could change his mind again
It rang only once before Gallo heard Casey’s voice filling the room.
“Gallo! It’s been a few weeks since we last talked. How are things?”
Gallo smiled, Casey didn’t sound busy or mad. “Sorry captain, it’s been busy over here.”
Casey scoffed, despite Casey no longer working with him, and telling him every call to just call him Casey Gallo still called him Captain every time.
“Anyways, I have a question for you.”
“Shoot”
“How did you know when to cook your corned beef”
There was a few moments of silence and Gallo began to think the worse
“Well I didn’t cook it that often. I saved it for when I thought the house really needed it. After a long few tense shifts, to celebrate someone or something. Why?”
“Well, we’ve had a few tense shifts. Kidd and Severide have been….disagreeing. Ritter thought I should make your corned beef because of something Mouch said but I don’t know.”
“They’ve been disagreeing? This is the first I’ve heard of it. What’s going on?”
“Well you know about that call with the explosion right?”
“Yeah. Severide had called me while Stella was in surgery.”
“Well, we had a call a few days ago where we found the materials for explosives. Turns out the guy was hiding in the bunker and there were wires around the entrance. Kidd wanted to do a more cautious approach but Severide ordered his guys to the front of the bunker. It’s been strange since.”
“Let me guess, it’s turned into a squad vs truck situation”
“Mhm..and Boden wants nothing to do with it”
“It sounds like the house could use the corned beef.“
“I guess I’ve just never made it before and I don’t wanna mess it up and ruin your recipe and-“
“Gallo slow down, you won’t mess it up. And if you get stuck you can call me while making it and I’ll help you out.”
“Thanks captain”
Gallo stayed on the phone with Casey for a while longer, catching him up on life back in Chicago before Casey had to go help the boys with something.
Gallo went to bed that night with a lot less weighing on his mind. He really hoped the corned beef would do the house some good
Gallo walked into the house next shift with a pep in his step, not going unnoticed by Ritter. Who smiled and quickly pulled him into the turnout room.
“So? Did you ask him?”
Gallo smiled and nodded
“Yeah, he said that it would do the house some good and that if I need help I could call him. You gotta promise me that you’ll watch it if I’m on a call and you’re not.”
“Of course! I wouldn’t dare let Casey’s corned beef burn.”
Gallo knew that he had to keep this a secret so he decided to do all the prep work outside, braving the cold weather for his fellow housemates.
Ritter came out to check on him a few times, smiling as he watched his friend hard at work. Getting the corned beef was hard enough mixing in calls only made it harder. Gallo had been texting with Casey all day and they decided to surprise the house with a call while they were eating, bells permitting.
After what seemed like eternity truck finally returned from their call, just as Casey’s corned beef was due to be done. Gallo smiled as everyone became excited. He smiled more at the thought of surprising his housemates with a call from Casey.
Gallo was wary when Ritter first brought up the idea to make the corned beef. Now he was overjoyed that his friend pushed him to reach out to Casey.