Mistaken

By: Riley

Summary – The one time Severide didn't have any luck with the lady he had his eye on.

Kelly Severide knew there was something about Leslie Shay as soon as he met her. He had been working at Firehouse 51 for a couple of years when she had come into the family working as a paramedic on Ambulance 61 alongside Gabriella Dawson.

Severide had been intrigued with her look as soon as she came into the firehouse. When Gabby was the only female around, he didn't feel comfortable making fun of her and treating her like one of the guys originally, as he wasn't sure how she would take it. It wasn't until she had made an offhand comment about Casey's masculinity—or lack thereof as she implied—that he knew she was a good fit for the guys around. Then Shay had come in and quickly bonded with Gabriella and the guys.

There was something about her, some tomboyish quality that she continued to flaunt, leaving the guys in tears with their hysterical laughter and giving off a motherly vibe that came with her job. It wasn't until Severide had gotten a very good look at her eyes that he became enamored. Eyes were always his favorite part on women—not the first he noticed, but his favorite part—and hers were very expressive and bright and…captivating.

He had been walking to the kitchen and spotted her frantically trying to make something for the Firehouse for lunch. Severide had laughed as he watched her grimace and dump what looked like a cup of mayonnaise into whatever concoction she was currently making.

"Just let me know now if that's going to poison me and I'll go ahead and break into my candy stash," Severide said as he walked up to her.

"I'm sorry that I'm in a Firehouse that has little to no food," Shay barked. She let out a huff of frustration, waving her hands, alternatively motioning towards the bowl that sat in front of her. "So I figured everyone could have tuna salad and deal with it."

Severide leaned forward and sniffed at the bowl. His lower jaw moved to the side as he tried to hide his own grimace, lifting his blue eyes to hers. "It doesn't smell like tuna," he said slowly. Maybe she really was trying to make her mark on Firehouse 51 and was playing some sort of prank. Either that or she was, in fact, a bad cook.

"I thought the same thing when I figured out that the cans have been expired since last month," Shay replied. "Would you rather eat or starve?"

Severide stood up straight, his eyebrows rising as he did so. He pointed at the bowl. "If it's that, I'd rather starve." He crossed his arms over his chest. "But since I'm so nice and I don't want you to get food poisoning shortly after you got here, I'll share it with you."

"Really?" Shay faked wide-eyed innocence, batting her eyelashes rapidly as she tilted her chin down. Reaching out her hands she grasped onto his forearm. "Oh that means so much, thank you."

Severide Kelly stared at Shay. Her eyes…they were so…expressive. He felt his lips part slightly as Shay smirked at him. She must have known what sort of power she had over him. He had never been entranced that way before, in a way that he could feel a sort of connection between the two of them. It was as if she was looking right through him and was smirking because she could see every thought running through his head. He was never one to have been in a relationship, not since Renee. That had scared him away from relationships; he preferred being able to have fun and not having to define what their new status was.

He finally managed to find his voice. "You're welcome." Severide crossed his arms over his chest. "So, you seem to be fitting in here very well."

"Yeah, well you see one jock strap you've seen them all," Shay said with a roll of her eyes. "I can't even begin to tell you how many times my brother would try to torture me with his." With a light laugh she pulled a loaf of bread out from a cabinet and placed it on the counter. Her blonde hair hung in waves over her shoulder and Severide felt himself start to smile as he watched it sway with her movements. "I used to run screaming and crying to my Mom every time he would wave his underwear in my face of get anywhere near me with it." She chuckled. "Then one day he tried and I punched him in the stomach. He never made that mistake again."

Severide laughed a long with her before moving to her side to help her finish up the rest of the sandwiches. "When you're stuck on kitchen duty you want to have things out in a timely manner," he said. "These guys can get impatient pretty quickly."

"Well, they're just going to have to deal with it," Shay said airily. "Or else they may get a knife pulled on their ass."

Severide laughed again. "You're not scared of anything are you?" He asked her. At her questioning look he pointed down towards the floor. "Being here at 51, I mean. You're the first person that's ever come in here and not had to worry about fitting in. I mean, even Herrmann who has a permanent stick up his ass likes you." Severide took a small bit of the tuna salad and popped it into his mouth. "Not bad."

"Great, I can cross that off my bucket list," Shay joked. Their eyes met again and Severide found himself staring at her once more. "So do you always get this way around women or is it just me? And I hope it's just me because I'm that amazing."

"Lucky for you you're the only one," Severide said smoothly.

"And how, dare I ask, am I the lucky one?"

"Because I'm going to ask you to get some drinks with me after our shift."

"Oh."

Severide wasn't sure how to take that response. Oh. Not 'no'. Not, 'yes'. Just 'oh'. As in 'oh gee', 'oh my', or—the options he wasn't going to amuse—'oh no'. Yep, this woman sure was different. Normally he didn't have to try so hard, even when the attraction the two shared was beating them over the head with a hammer. As the seconds passed, Shay's smile slowly spread from the seam of her lips and out until it reached her eyes. A slight laugh escaped her lips and she moved a hand up to cover it as soon as possible.

"Is something funny?" He asked. A million thoughts continued to run through his head, everything but actually being rejected.

"No. No. It's just." Shay twisted away from him, her shoulders shaking. Finally, she turned back to him, her eyes sparkling. "Kelly…" she paused. "May I call you Kelly?"

"You can call me whatever you want," Severide insisted.

Shay's smile turned to a smirk. "Ok, Kelly…" she brought a hand up and placed it on his shoulder. They did say that frequent touching was a good thing. "You do know I'm a lesbian, right?" She barely gave Kelly a chance to respond before raising her gaze to the ceiling. "I mean, I know I'm not projecting myself in that way and I don't have my hair cut entirely too short, but yes. I'm a lesbian."

Kelly blinked rapidly, taking a step back. Impossible. She had been flirting with him, he was sure of it. Their banter just came so easily. How could he have misread it—

"But don't feel bad about yourself," Shay continued. She placed her free hand to her chest. "I've turned down plenty of guys a lot worse than I just turned you down." She patted him on the shoulder and turned back to the task at hand, spreading the tuna salad on sandwiches as if they just hadn't had that conversation. Kelly slowly moved back to helping her. "But you know, there is someone I think would be perfect for you," she said.

"Did you date her?" Kelly asked sarcastically.

"Ha! I wish." Shay twisted her mouth to the side, slowly shaking her head at the thought of the small crush that hadn't been returned. "She's straighter than an arrow and is insanely gorgeous," Shay continued. "Your type I would say."

"And how would you know what my type is?" Severide pressed.

"You asked me out, didn't you?" To accentuate her question, Shay aimed a wink his way then dusted her hands off. Resting them on the side of the counter she leaned forward. "And because I feel so bad about what happened I'll wait at least a day before I tell Gabby about this."

Severide rolled his eyes. He took a sandwich and walked out of the kitchen, back to his office.

After that he and Shay had become incredibly close, quickly calling each other their best friend and then moving in together. It was easy; they meshed well, they didn't have to worry about stepping on each other's toes, they were honest, and were quick to call each other out on their bullshit.

Still, that didn't stop Severide's answer whenever he was asked if he and Shay were dating, "if she wasn't a lesbian, probably."

THE END

A/N: Ok, so I got this idea after talking to my sister and my friend on twitter while watching the crossover CF/CPD event. We realized that they haven't really shown Severide's and Shay's friendship in a while as well as not having a lot going on with Shay lately.

So I wondered if Severide know that Shay was a lesbian when he first met her? Sorry if I focused on Shay's eyes too much, I just really like the way they look.

I hope you guys like it.

Cheers,

-Riles