This fic is unedited so sorry but here it is just a random one shot for some tumblr people.
Shay held the remaining two tickets to a hockey game she had little to no interest in. It wasn't that she didn't like sports, she just preferred women's sports. She had been given one ticket for each of her partners at Molly's, but Otis had decided to fly out to see Katie the weekend of the game. She punched in Rafferty's phone number and held the phone against her ear.
"Hello?"
"Rafferty? It's Shay. Are you busy right now or would you be able to meet me at Molly's?" She tried her best not to sound like she was asking her out.
"Well I can tell you I haven't got anything better to do." The fact that she had been pacing like a dog in a cage was clear from her tone.
"Alright. What do you say, twenty minutes?"
"Yeah. Okay. I'll see you in a bit." The line went dead. Twenty minutes was bull. When you suspend someone like Rafferty, it kinda is like putting an animal in a cage, Shay thought.
"How are you coping?" Shay had arrived to find Rafferty outside despite being ten minutes early herself.
"I don't know. I feel like I can't get out of my own head, I guess." She admitted, sliding onto a bar stool.
"You should get out. Do something." The blonde suggested as she reached for a bottle from under the bar.
"Isn't that what I'm doing here?"
"Fair point, but I don't know that getting drunk with me is really considered a valid activity. We'll start with this. It's the good stuff. The really good stuff. The two hundred dollars a bottle stuff." She smirked as she poured the single malt into two glasses and slid one to her companion.
"Damn, you must really feel bad for me." Rafferty surmised.
"I asked you here for a reason, I swear. Other than the fact that Molly's is closed tonight and I haven't been shit faced drunk in ages." Shay thumbed at the tickets in her pocket and hopped up onto the bar, her legs dangling over as she sat on the edge of it.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. I have these. I don't have much interest in men's hockey, and I don't really have anyone to go with. I thought maybe you might take them off my hands." She produced the pair of tickets.
"You know you're crazy, right? This is the second pair of these you've given away." The brunette shook her head at the act.
"What can I say? I'm a giver." Leslie shrugged sarcastically.
"I will accept, on one condition," She slid one of the tickets out of Shay's hand. "You use the other one. It's not like I can take my dead fiancé."
"Lions, tigers and blackhawks, oh my! Are you asking me on a date?" Shay feigned shock, taking a sip from her glass.
"Don't push your luck. And if it was a date, I'm pretty sure you're the one that asked me." She argued.
"Believe me, Raff. You're not my type."
"What's your type? Bitchy and ten pounds of eyeliner?" She smirked blatantly up at Shay.
"If you asked Dawson or Severide they'd tell you it's girls who have the ability to rip my heart out and crush it into tiny pieces." She shrugged.
"Isn't that basically anyone you open up to?" That smirk disappeared, replaced by the pursed lips of someone who was trying not to break down into tears again.
"Shit... You're so dark. I kinda love it." Shay grinned.
"Alright, I'll drink to that. Cynicism is my middle name, and if you can deal with that, we can be friends." She tipped her glass back, which Shay grabbed.
"That scotch is meant to be tasted. Don't drink it like you're taking a shot."
"I just wanna be drunk already." Allison admitted.
"You don't wanna be drunk. You want to feel something. I get it." She nodded.
"You might be right. But I kinda thought it was the other way around. I thought maybe I would stop feeling so shitty.
"It'll pass. If there's one thing I learned from growing up the way I did, it's that pain is only temporary, and you can't screw yourself over for the future just because you're upset now." Shay reaffirmed her statement with a hand on Rafferty's shoulder.
"What do you mean, 'growing up the way I did.'?" The brunette bit her lip.
"You probably don't want to hear about it. But I knew who I was when I was like, eleven years old. I knew that I was going to end up with a woman some day. To hide such a fundamental part of yourself for almost a decade? It's not healthy. It does things to you that I don't think a lot of people could even imagine. And then when you tell people, they stare. They're all waiting for you to do something or say something. I spent a long time being angry about it, but I got out of that place. I did alright for myself, I think." She ran her fingers over the CFD logo on the shoulder of Rafferty's jacket.
"I didn't know you went through that. I'm sorry... I don't always mean the things I say. You're okay. You're a decent human being, Leslie. I'm sorry that I transposed stereotypes and misconceptions onto you without getting to know you first." She looked up at Shay, who was now also drinking at a faster pace.
"It's okay, Allison. We've all got our baggage." Shay made a point of using her first name just as she had hers.
"If it's any consolation, people kinda look at you like that when the guy you're supposed to marry drops dead, too. Like they're expecting something."
"I've learned better than to expect anything from you other than what I expect the least from you." Shay smirked as she turned the sentence into a conundrum.
"I'm gonna take that as a compliment. I'm just sort of sick of being the fiance of the dead guy, you know?"
"I get wanting to be normal. What would make you feel like you were?" The blonde asked, letting her legs swing.
"I haven't had physical contact with anyone in ages. I used to be such a touchy person, but now... I don't know." Allison shrugged.
"Are you gonna freak out if I try to touch you?"
"Are you just touching me because I want to be touched, or because you want to touch me?" She cocked her head to the side, studying Shay's expression.
"A little bit of both, maybe." Shay hopped down from the bar and stepped closer to Rafferty. Their foreheads rested together for a moment, before Allison closed the distance and pressed their lips together hastily.
When they finally parted, Allison was breathless. She managed to choke out a simple "Thank you." before turning around and leaving the bar without another word.
Shay spent a week and a half thinking about the kiss. She hadn't heard from Allison at all, and she wondered if she'd ever see her again. Not even Severide knew about it, and that drove her even crazier. How was she expected to figure it out if she wasn't supposed to tell people? And she knew that Allison would hate her forever if she did.
"Which of you losers is gonna drive me to the game tomorrow?" She asked, glancing around at the group.
"That depends... Who did you ask to go with you?" Dawson arched an eyebrow.
"I gave the other ticket to Rafferty," Shay shrugged. "She's gotta be going crazy. I would be if I was on a three month suspension, anyways."
"Did she really treat a guy without consent?" Herrman asked, a look of doubt on his face.
"It's more complicated than that. He was going to die. He was exhibiting classic symptoms of pulmonary oedema. Some of the movements and contractions he was making could have been a nod, or they may not have been. The guy was literally drowning in his own fluids." Shay explained.
"What do you think?" Her ex partner asked.
"I think she made a choice to save that man's life. That's why we do what we do, isn't it? We want to save lives, and some people need help even though they don't know it."
Shay spotted the empty seats next to Jeff and Herrman and followed Dawson as they stepped past the knees of the row of strangers.
"Where's Rafferty?" Gabby asked as they sat in the seats.
"She'll be here." At least Leslie hoped she would show up.
"The puck drops in like five minutes."
"I'm gonna go pee before it starts, then." She excused herself, really on her way to go call Allison.
"Are you coming or what?"
"I'll be there in a second. Turn around." Allison's voice echoed.
"Come on, they're about to start the game." Shay reminded, looking around in all directions.
"I know." She smiled as they came face to face.
"Hey." The blonde smiled back nervously as she laid eyes on the woman she had come to care for more than she'd like to admit.
"Hi."
"Look, if I freaked you out or-" Shay was cut off by soft lips and hands on her jaw.
"You didn't freak me out." She reassured.
"I thought you didn't kiss girls."
"I've had some time to think it over." Rafferty shrugged, reaching for Shay's hand.
"So now what? You decided you do in fact want to kiss girls? Cause I don't want you blaming me for your gayness when whoever you date doesn't work out." Shay pursed her lips. She didn't trust such a sudden change of heart.
"No. I want to kiss you. Just you." Allison smiled nervously up at her.
"Well that's good... Because I like kissing you, too."