"Hey, beautiful. Can I buy you a drink?"

Sarah shook her head, instinctively pulling away from the middle-aged man who suddenly stood way too close to her, "No, thanks. I'm good with this." She indicated her barely-touched bottle of beer, hoping that he would take the hint and go away.

The hint went unnoticed. "Aw, c'mon, baby. I'm trying to be nice here." He leaned toward her, "Hey, what do you say we go somewhere a little more...private?"

Her heart began to race as she realized that the situation had gone from uncomfortable to potentially dangerous in about two seconds. She needed to get away from him pronto. There was a group of men down at the other end of the bar. If she could get close enough to them, they might grant her sanctuary until Mr. Creepy left. Trying to play it cool, she slid off of her barstool and took a step backwards, "I'm sorry – I'm not that kind of girl."

Mr. Creepy grabbed her right bicep, his cold fingers digging into her skin, "Good. Then this'll be even more fun."

Sarah had two choices now. She could either scream and risk being either struck or shot, or try to hit him with her bottle and risk having her other arm intercepted and snapped. She tightened her grip on the neck of her bottle, preparing to take a swing at his head.

"Is he bothering you, miss?" a voice from behind her asked.

Sarah took her eyes off of Mr. Creepy just long enough to briefly glance at the man who stood behind her. It was one of the guys from the group at the end of the bar.

"Back off, buddy, I saw her first." Mr. Creepy snarled. "Go get your own piece of ass."

The other man grabbed Creepy's wrist and started to squeeze, "You need to leave."

Feeling the tight grip on her arm beginning to slacken, Sarah took the opportunity to wrench herself free. She would have a bruise by morning.

Creepy guy started to speak, but the other man squeezed a little harder, making something pop. "You need to leave." he repeated, "Now."

"I can have the cops here in two minutes." the bartender warned, his cell phone in his hand with 911 already showing on the screen. "I'd probably do what he says."

Mr. Creepy glowered at Sarah's rescuer before yanking his arm free and storming out of the bar.

Sarah suddenly realized that she had been holding her breath. She exhaled slowly and turned to face the man who had undoubtedly saved her life. He was surprisingly cute. "Thanks."

"Do you know that guy?" the man asked.

She shook her head, "Never seen him before."

"I'm really sorry about that." the bartender apologized, "We don't usually have douchebag customers like him."

"Come down here with us." the cute guy interjected before Sarah could reply to the bartender. "Just in case he comes back."

She hesitated. She didn't know this guy. For all she knew, he was just as bad as Mr. Creepy!

He must've sensed her unease. With a smile, he held his hand out to her, "I'm Kelly, by the way."

She shook his hand, "Sarah."

"I'm Brian." The bartender extended his hand, offering a smile as well.

Beginning to relax, Sarah grinned and shook Otis' hand, "It's nice to meet you guys."

"Everything okay?" Casey asked as he and Rice joined the trio.

"Yeah." Severide shrugged, "No big deal – just a drunken idiot." He gestured to Casey and Rice, "This is Casey and Rice. Guys, this is Sarah."

"Are you here by yourself?" Casey asked as he shook Sarah's hand. He tried not to sound too hopeful.

"Yeah." She sighed, "I was actually looking for Chris Herrmann. He still owns this place, doesn't he?"

"He's off tonight." Otis piped up, "I wish I'd known you were looking for him; you wouldn't have had to sit here by yourself all night. I can call him for you."

Sarah shook her head, "No, that's okay. Could you tell him I was here, though?"

Otis nodded, "Sure. I'll see him tomorrow on shift, so I'll tell him first thing."

Her face lit up, "You're a firefighter?"

He grinned, suddenly feeling kind of cocky, "Yeah."

"All of us are." Rice added, stealing some of Otis' thunder.

His comment didn't seem to faze Sarah, "So you all know Chris?"

"I'm his Lieutenant." Casey replied, "He's one of my best guys. How do you know him?"

At that, Sarah's smile softened, "Chris and I go way back."

…

"Thanks for bringing me home."

"You're welcome." He had insisted on not only bringing her to her apartment but walking her to her door as well. And he wasn't planning on leaving until he heard her lock tumble into place. He leaned one shoulder against the wall, "So, you're here alone?"

Why did he care? "For now, yeah."

He started to say something, but stopped himself. Instead, he held out his hand, "Let me give you my number. In case you need anything."

For a moment, she hesitated. Part of her wanted to politely decline, but after the incident with Mr. Creepy, she thought better of it. She unlocked her phone's screen and handed it over to him.

Quickly, he punched in his number, "I'm serious. If you need anything at all, call me."

"Okay. Thanks." She returned her phone to her pocket and slid her key into her lock, "I really do appreciate what you did for me tonight."

The smile was back again, "Any time."

"Good night."

"Night." Severide didn't move until he heard her lock the door behind herself.