Lindsay POV
I cant believe it happened again. Another potential drug bust gone wrong. I don't understand why we are always one step behind them, and it falling on my shoulders doesn't help. Looking down at my phone, I see that my friend and co worker, Antonio is calling me. I smile to myself as I pick up, he's a really nice guy.
"Hey Antonio, what's up?" I speak into the phone.
"Hey Erin, my sister asked me if I wanted to go to Molly's, but its kind of awkward with me being the only cop there. Would you mind coming with me? I know its last minute but I'll be a fish out of water there."
Crap. Molly's. I really don't want to go, but I know that if I was ever needed a favor Antonio would be there for me.
"Sure, no problem!" I say as I grab my coat and my bag from the back of my chair and start to head out. "I just finished the paperwork from the failed drug bust so I'll just head over now. Is that ok?"
"Yeah, sure! I'm on my way to Molly's now so I guess I'll just meet you there. Thank you so much for doing this for me, I owe you one."
"Don't worry about it Antonio," I say as I hang up the phone and get in my car.
It's not like the firefighters aren't good people, they are, but it's just awkward because there are a couple of rivalries between some of the cops and firefighters. Antonio's sister, Gabby, is one of the paramedics at the firehouse and she seems pretty nice. She's engaged to a firefighter at the firehouse, Matt Casey. They seem really happy together. I'm glad that their relationship is holding out, especially since Gabby just lost one of her best friends, a fellow paramedic, in an explosion. I didn't know much about the girl, Leslie Shay, except that she was really close with Gabby and another firefighter whose name I can't remember.
Before I know it, I'm pulling into the Molly's parking lot and parking my car. Getting out, I see that Antonio also just arrived and is walking towards me.
"Hey, thanks for doing this for me again. I really appreciate it. Hopefully we at least have some fun tonight!" he says.
"Yeah, maybe we'll actually have fun!" I say as I open the door to Molly's. As soon as I walk in I'm met with the stares of at least 15 firefighters, but Antonio rescues me when he comes in after me and the stares relax a little.
I'm there for about 10 seconds before Gabby comes over to me and gives me a hug, pulling me with her towards the bar.
"Hey girl, how are you! I feel like I haven't seen you in forever! How is everyone over in intelligence? Voight? Jay?" she inquires.
"Everyone is great! The job is a little hard right now but we'll get through it," I say. "How have you guys been? Antonio told me how much you guys were hurting from losing Shay, I'm really sorry. I can't imagine how hard it is on you guys."
Gabby reeled back, like she was just slapped in the face. Crap, I shouldn't have said anything. It's probably too soon for any of them to talk about it.
"Gabby I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. We don't have to talk about it, it's completely fine," I say in a rush of words, attempting to fix my mistake. I knew it was a bad idea, coming here.
"No, Erin, its completely fine. Actually, I appreciate you talking to me about it. No one at the house wants to talk about it around me, they think I'm so fragile, like I'm going to break. I'm actually doing a lot better right now. I wish I could say the same for Severide though. They lived together, it's killing him that she's gone. She was his best friend."
I took a deep breath, relieved that I didn't accidentally overstep my boundaries.
Looking around the room, I look for Severide. I've only seen him a couple of times, but I remember his face. He's really attractive, I'm surprised he's not married yet. "Which one is he again, Gabby? Is he here tonight?" I ask.
"Yeah, he's right over there. At the table in the corner. Whenever someone goes over to talk to him, he just shoes them away and keeps drinking. Maybe meeting you and seeing a fresh face will brighten him up a little. Is it ok if I bring you over to meet him?" Gabby asks.
Instantly my stomach knots up. I've never met the guy, and I don't want him to get the wrong impression of me if he's already in a bad mood. Reluctantly, I agree and Gabby and I walk over to the lonely table in the corner. When we approach and he looks up at me, I instantly freeze.
Those eyes. I see every nuance of pain, happiness, and anger in them. I swear I could stare at them forever. Slowly, everyone else starts to melt and away and it's just me and him. I feel weightless, like I could never tire from just standing here and looking at him. I'm completely breathless.
All of a sudden, I'm yanked from my trance with Gabby tugging on my arm and asking me if I'm ok.
"Oh, yeah! I'm fine!" I proclaim. Did he feel that too? Or was it just me?
After Gabby makes the traditional introductions, she leaves and I sit down next to Severide.
Severide POV
Holy crap.
What just happened?
Two seconds ago I was just minding my own business, and now I have the most beautiful girl in the world sitting in front of me. Slowly, I come back to reality and realize that she said something.
"Hey" she says.
Did she feel that too? I guess there's only one way to find out.
"Let's just cut the crap. I need to ask you something," I proclaim. I expected her to jump back a little or be surprised, but she wasn't. Good. It shows that she's tough, that she expects the unexpected.
"Shoot," she says. I'm sunk. That voice. I didn't expect it to sound so raspy and rough, she's so tiny and looks so breakable, like a china doll. It's the sexiest voice I've ever heard.
"I just had the world slip from under my feet, in a good way. I just felt something I've never felt before when I looked up at you. This is crazy, I don't know why I'm saying all of this, but I guess I was just wondering if the same thing happened to you. If you feel like everything just changed." I said. I can't believe I'm saying this, I sound completely crazy. What kind of grown man just announces that? I'm an idiot.
"I did," she said. "I felt it too. I did," she whispered.
Wait what? She felt it too?
"Seriously? You're not just bullshitting me? You actually felt that?" I asked. I can't believe this is happening.
"Yeah," she said breathlessly.
I can't believe this is happening to me. For the first time since Shay was killed, I feel a huge surge of hope. Like everything will be okay. And it's all because of her.