He had had a fight with his girlfriend ending with him saying he couldn't do it anymore as he walked out the door. He didn't want it be over but the stress of her schooling and his classes with the firefighter academy and working was taking a toll on their relationship. He drove around for a little while before deciding he needed to forget about everything for the night.
He'd been at the bar for an hour making small talk with the bartender when someone walked up to the bar sitting in the empty seat next to him. Ignoring the person next to him, he pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at it before putting it back with a sigh. "You drinking to forget?" Realizing that he couldn't exactly ignore the person without being rude, he looked up his blue eyes meeting brown ones "Uh yeah I am" he was trying to keep his answers short knowing that with forgetting was the possibility of doing something he could regret. She turned to him and held her glass up "Well here's to forgetting."
He woke up the next morning in an unfamiliar room and his head pounding. Looking around he realized he was in a hotel room with someone's whose skin and hair was darker than he was used to. His phone ringing pulled him from his thoughts, he reached for it hoping that it didn't wake the person sleeping next to him. He answered the phone and he could tell the person on the other end had been crying when she spoke "I'm sorry will you please come home." He quickly dressed giving the sleeping woman one last look before leaving not knowing what he regretted more, sleeping with someone after the fight with his girlfriend or the fact that he couldn't recall her name or what happened between them.
4 years later
It was a quiet morning at 51 when Severide spoke up "Shay didn't you say something about a new PIC starting today? They should have been in by now right?" Shay looked up at the clock and noted that they should been there already "Yea uh maybe they got lost or something." They were interrupted by Chief coming into the room "Shay the new PIC is on her way, she had something personal come up that she needed to take care of before coming to work." Casey looked at Severide who had a smirk on his face "Severide can you do us all a favor and try not to hit on her on her first day here." Severide looked at him offended about to respond when he was cut off by Herman clearing his throat "You must be our new PIC, I'm Christopher Herman." The female responded "Uh yea I am. I'm Gabriela Dawson nice to meet you."
After meeting everyone Shay showed Gabby to the locker room and which locker would be hers. Gabby put her bag in the locker and turned back to Shay about to ask her a question when the the alarm went off signaling a call for them.
Casey watched Shay and Dawson head for their rig and leave. He was trying to remember if they had met before on a call but kept coming up empty. He was pulled from his thoughts by Severide smacking him upside the head "You're engaged don't even think about it" Casey looked up at him "I know I am I didn't forget you know." If you could even call it that, sure he had asked and she said yes but every time something was mentioned about planning the wedding and setting a date there was always a reason why they should wait. "Then why can't you keep your eyes off the new girl?" Casey glared at him "I'm not the only that hasn't taken my eyes off her now am I?" Severide pushed away from the table "The difference is I'm single and you're in a very committed relationship." Casey stood up and headed for his office without saying another word.
Shay and Dawson had returned from their call and was just sitting in the bunk room talking. Rather Shay was asking her all kinds of questions and she was giving her short answers in response. Shay noticed that Dawson kept glancing between her phone and Casey who was sitting in his office. "He's engaged." Dawson snapped her attention back to Shay "It's not like that, he just looks familiar like I may have met him before but I can't place where we met or how." Dawson's phone rang and she grabbed it and took off somewhere quiet before Shay could ask if she was ok.
Dawson had just gotten off the phone with her sitter and sighed calling her sister in law when the door opened. Hanging up she looked up to see Casey walking to his locker, she smiled at him before getting up and exiting the locker room sending her sister in law a text asking if she'd be able to watch Adeline her 3yr old daughter for the night.
Shift ended and Dawson grabbed her stuff anxious to get home and see her little girl. Shay caught her one her way out "Hey Dawson you wanna join us for breakfast?" She turned and saw Shay Severide and Casey she was about to respond when Casey reached for his phone then looked up Severide "Sorry I have to get home." Shay nodded at him and Dawson spoke up declining Shays offer for breakfast "Nah I just want to go home and relax."
Shay and Severide had gotten home and were watching tv when Severide's curiosity got the best of him "How do you like your new partner?" Shay turned to him "She's ok I'm trying to get to know her but she seems a little closed off or unwilling to answer questions about her personal life." Severide nudged her "Come on she's new, she's not just going to reveal her darkest secrets to people she barely knows." Shay was quiet for a minute debating if she should voice her concerns or just let it be "I don't expect her to be an open book but she only answered questions about where she worked before getting assigned at 51 and how long she has been a paramedic." Severide nodded well just give her time let her get to know everyone and maybe she will open up about her personal life. Now you want to tell me what is worrying you? She sighed "It's nothing just me reading into things too much." Satisfied with her response Severide grabbed the remote and turned it back on.