Shay started her shift that next morning the way she always did, taking inventory in the ambulance. Dawson hadn't joined her yet which was fine by her at the moment. It gave her some quiet time to figure out how she would answer any questions about her night out if it came up. She hadn't decided if she was going to tell Dawson she went out by herself or not. Of course also in question was the topic of Ashley Davies.
Thinking about the beautiful brunette easily took her mind away from how many chest tube kits there were in the ambo. Ashley may have infuriated her at first but the woman had also completely intrigued her at the club within only a few minutes of conversation. Shay had enjoyed the rest of the night both at the club and once they were back at Shay's place where Ashley had effectively exhausted her with pleasure. Shay smirked to herself and thought they had both done a pretty good job of exhausting each other.
"Earth to Shay!" Dawson said, waving her hand in front of her partners face.
"What?" Shay shook her head and focused on the present. "Oh hey Dawson."
Her partner laughed, "That must have been a really good day dream."
"You have no idea." Shay said absent mindedly then shook her head. She needed to focus on the present. "I mean I'm just taking inventory." She said holding up what she had been counting.
"Well I didn't know gauze were so mesmerizing." Dawson said with a smirk.
Shay looked down at her hands and realized she didn't even know what she was counting. "Damn it!" she said as she threw the clipboard and gauze on the gurney.
"Relax girl." Dawson said as she climbed into the rig. "What's wrong?"
Shay threw up her hands, "I don't know what I've been counting."
Dawson wasn't sure what was going on but she knew keeping Shay calm was a must. "No worries. How about you call off items and I'll give you a count."
Shay sighed then grabbed the clipboard and started from the top. They quickly made their way through the list. Luckily Shay hadn't messed anything up.
"So now that we have that done you wanna tell me what's up?" Dawson asked.
Shay looked at her partner and instantly knew she would tell her everything, "Well Saturday night…"
The call siren went off, "Ambulance 61, difficulty breathing…"
"To be continued," Dawson said as she jumped out of the back of the ambo.
Shay jumped into the drivers seat ready for the call to distract her from Ashley Davies.
When they arrived at the scene the first thing they noticed was a big ass snake loose in the house as the man's son led them in.
Shay thought she could be tough but with one hiss from the snake she quickly realized that wasn't gonna happen. Dawson stepped up and managed to lock the snake into a room so they could assess the man and transport him to the hospital for the poisonous snake bite he had endured.
On the ride back from the hospital to 51 Dawson spoke up. "You're making me sound like a broken record girl, what's up with you?"
"Just tired that's all." Shay replied knowing the dodge was shaky at best. Earlier she had been ready to tell Dawson everything but now she wasn't so sure. She hoped if she could evade the questions a bit maybe her partner would lay off the questions.
Dawson shrugged, "I guess that could be the case but you usually are grumpy when you're tired not spacey or evasive and you never have a goofy smile on your face when you're tired girl. And don't deny this because you know I know you better than most people, right?"
"Yeah I know and I'll be fine. I just need some coffee when we get back to the house." Shay quickly responded.
"Alright." Dawson said knowing that pushing her friend too much could make her mood worse rather than better. The odd thing to Dawson was that Shay seemed distracted but happy. As she had said a few moments ago, normally if Shay was tired she was grumpy verging on bitchy so this was something entirely different.
They traveled in silence for a few moments then the radio broke the silence, "Ambulance 61 we've got another run in your area, you available?" Dawson replied affirmatively and they were off on another call.
The two maintained an awkward silence until they reached the address of the call. Once they entered the house Shay again became completely focused on the call, a gun shot wound. These were always tense calls because as a first responder, you can never be sure if there would be a shooter present or how many of the people around may have guns just waiting for a reason to use them. Luckily there were few people in the street and only one other person in the house. Her and Dawson quickly assessed the patients condition and prepared the woman for transport to the hospital.
It didn't take them long to get to Chicago Med and get the patient into the ER where Shay's friend Kendra took over. Once all the paperwork was done and they had retrieved their gurney they started to head back to 51, again.
Shay headed straight for the kitchen after parking the ambo, remembering her explanation of being tired, and got some coffee. She could see that Dawson was keeping an eye on her but giving her space as well.
It was quiet so Shay flipped through a magazine that was on the table just for something to do but she really had no clue what she was looking at. Her mind was back on Ashley, only the thoughts now were how to get this woman out of her head. Hell, it was a one night stand, why couldn't she just move on.
After about a half an hour Dawson finally decided to join Shay and quietly said, "Okay you've had your coffee Shay, are you gonna tell me what's going on now?"
Shay just shrugged and tried to give her friend a reassuring smile.
"You can talk to me about anything Shay, you know that right?" Dawson asked looking concerned.
The look on Dawson's face did her in and Shay quickly nodded her head towards the rigs, "Let's go to the ambo."
Once the doors were closed on the back of the ambo Dawson spoke up, "So I have a feeling this has something to do with what you and Severide did the other night."
"Why would you say that?" Shay asked, surprised by Dawson's assumption.
She shrugged and said, "Well you weren't like this last shift so I figured it had to be something that happened the last couple days."
"Well this has nothing to do with Severide. Saturday night he stayed home and watched the baseball game. I went out by myself." Shay admitted.
"You went out by yourself?" Dawson answered, obviously surprised.
Shay laughed at her friend's expression. "Last time I checked I was old enough to go to a bar by myself."
Dawson rolled her eyes, "Well I know that but…" She didn't finish her statement because she wasn't entirely sure where she was going with the comment.
"I know I took Clarice leaving a little tough, both times, and all that. I just needed a me night, you know?" Shay finished with a shrug and a smile.
"Makes sense." Dawson also shrugged and nodded. "Did you have fun?"
"Yeah, I did." Shay responded trying to keep the grin off her face.
Dawson just looked at her friend smiling and couldn't help but laugh.
"What's so funny?" Shay quickly asked.
Dawson kept smiling, "Who is she?"
"Who's who?" Shay asked trying to sound innocent.
"Don't play dumb with me Leslie Elizabeth Shay. Did we not already establish earlier that I know you better than most people!" Dawson raised her eyebrows at Shay before she finished, "You met someone on your solo night out."
"Well I talked to lots of people. I was out for the social experience." Shay answered evasively deciding to mess with her friend a bit.
Dawson shook her head, "Never mind, I'll just go ask Severide. I'm sure he met her before or after you guys made it to your room." she said turning towards the door.
"Gee thanks for making me sound like a total slut Dawson." she responded laughing.
"I kinda did, didn't I?" Dawson said with a smile then added, "But at least you're a loveable slut!"
Shay's only response was to smack Dawson in the shoulder since she had moved away from the door putting her well within Shay's reach.
"Owe!" she said with laughter, grabbing her shoulder where Shay had hit her.
"You deserved that." Shay said matter of factly.
Dawson nodded, "Yeah maybe a little."
They both laughed together for a bit. After a minute or so of quiet Shay turned to Dawson, took a deep breath and said, "Her name is Ashley. She's really hot, we had fun and it was only a one night thing."
"I knew it!" Dawson said with a smile then quickly asked, "Why only one night?"
"She lives in Milwaukee for one."
"Yeah that would do it." Dawson nodded.
"Yeah." Shay echoed. "Plus we agreed this was just a one night thing."
Dawson eyed her again, "But you kinda wish it could be more, don't you?"
Shay nodded. They both remained silent again. Shay finally broke the silence, "Bet Mills has lunch ready by now. I'm kinda hungry."
"Me too," Dawson said. Both women moved towards the back door of the ambo. Before she opened the door Dawson turned back to Shay and said, "It's nice to see that goofy smile back on your face. Even though it was a one time thing I think meeting this woman did you a world of good."
Shay could only smile and nod in agreement as they jumped out of the ambo.
Severide strolled up smiling, "I was wondering where you girls were. You telling Dawson about your firefighter Shay?"
Shay rolled her eyes and said, "She's not my anything Kelly, it was a one night stand."
Dawson ignored Shay's comment because she was more focused on what Severide had said. She turned to Shay and asked, "This Ashley chick is a firefighter?"
Severide chimed in, "Yeah the hot, fit type." Then he smirked before adding, "You know kind of like a female version of me."
Shay couldn't help but laugh at Severide's assessment of Ashley and nodded in agreement. "The man speaks the truth, at least about Ashley being hot and in tremendous shape." She turned and playfully stuck her tongue out at Severide.
Dawson laughed too but also rolled her eyes and said, "You two are such guys sometimes."
The roommates looked at each other in silence for a moment before laughing harder than they had already been as they headed in for lunch.
Later after another call Shay asked, "Do you think I'm reading too much into the connection I felt with Ashley?"
Dawson thought for a moment then said, "It's possible but then again maybe you're not. I mean you did say she gave you her number but then again there is a two commute between you guys. It really could go either way."
"Oh that clears it right up." Shay replied with a laugh.
"The way I see it, what's meant to be will be. If you and Ashley are supposed to be together you'll get another shot sometime. If not you'll find a different wonderful woman. You're a good person who deserve to be happy Shay, it'll happen eventually." Dawson said with a genuine warm smile.