"Alright, let's get you into this dress," Dawson said when Severide got back a little while later.

We headed into her and Matt's bedroom, closing the door behind us. I stripped down to my bra and underwear and held my hands out for the dress.

"Are you planning on having sex tonight?" she asked, raising her eyebrow at my lacy black underwear and matching bra.

"Shut up," I said.

I stepped into the gown and turned around so she could zip me up. I twirled, smiling as the long, flowing fabric floated around me.

"You look stunning," she said, handing me the earrings Severide had brought.

"Thank you so much for helping me get ready. I can do other people's hair and makeup, but when I try to do my own it just doesn't work as well," I said.

"What shoes are you wearing?" she asked.

I pointed to the pair of simple black heels that I had asked Kelly to bring. Dawson took one look at them and shook her head.

"What?" I asked.

"You are not wearing those. Hang tight. I'll be right back," she said, disappearing into the walk-in closet.

She emerged a minute later, holding a pair of sparkling silver ankle strap heels.

"Dawson, I can't borrow those. They look so expensive," I said.

"I got them on sale. You'll be fine. They go better with your dress," she said, handing them to me.

I sat on the edge of the bed and slipped my feet into the shoes, strapping them on. I stood and walked around the room, trying them out.

"They're surprisingly comfortable," I said.

"They're one of my favorites. Take good care of them," she said.

"Thank you," I said, hugging her.

We walked out into the living room where Casey and Severide were talking about one of Casey's construction jobs. Severide was in a black tux with a white shirt and bowtie. He looked fantastic. Dawson cleared her throat, causing the men to stop their conversation and turn to look at us. They both froze, eyes wide, when they saw me.

"Everly, you look beautiful," Matt said.

"Thank you," I said, looking at Severide.

He just nodded in agreement, too stunned to say anything.

"Are you ready to go? We need to be there in 30 minutes," I said.

"Yeah, let's go," Severide said, finally finding his voice.

We said goodbye to Dawson and Casey before heading out to my car. I handed the keys to Severide and slid into the passenger seat.

"You look magnificent, baby," he said, placing his hand on my mid-thigh and squeezing gently.

"You look amazing too," I said, placing my hand on top of his.

We arrived at the venue and Severide parked the car in an empty spot.

"There's not many people here," he commented, looking around the parking lot.

"We're early. I wanted to make sure everything was set up and ready to go before everyone showed up," I explained, opening my door.

"If you had anything to do with it, then I'm sure it will be perfect," he said, kissing me softly.

We walked inside and were met by the co-founder of the charity.

"Severide, this is Emilia Briggs. She's one of the founders of Family Flames. Emilia, this is Kelly Severide."

"Nice to meet you," Severide said, shaking Emilia's hand.

"It's wonderful to meet you too," Emilia said with a smile.

"So, is everything ready to go?" I asked.

"Yes. I've been over the checklist multiple times and everything is working and ready. Are you excited for your speech?" she asked.

"I'm sorry, my what now?" I asked.

"Your speech. You have to give a speech, Grace. This is a fundraising gala and you have an incredible story," Emilia said.

"I didn't prepare a speech, Emilia," I said.

"Well, you better get to preparing then. I'm going to go check in with the caterer," she said.

I watched her walk away, contemplating running after her and strangling her for not telling me about the speech.

"No strangling people tonight, my love," Severide said with a smile.

"How did you know that's what I was thinking?" I asked, surprised.

"You had your 'murder' face on," he said with a laugh.

"You suck," I said, punching his arm.

"You love me," he said, pulling me into a hug.

"You're wrinkling my dress," I complained with a laugh.

He let me go with a kiss on the forehead before heading over to the bar to get drinks for us. People slowly started coming through the doors and I went over to greet them. I spent the next hour or so welcoming people to the event and walking around talking to people who I knew could donate a large amount to the charity.

"You're popular," a voice whispered in my ear as I stopped by the bar for a glass of champagne.

"Hey, baby," I said, turning and kissing Severide.

"How are you doing?" he asked, taking a sip of his bourbon.

"I'm good. We've raised a little over $100,000 so far," I said with a smile.

"That's great, babe. But I have an idea that might help you raise a little more," he said with a mischievous smile.

"What did you do?" I asked.

"I called in some reinforcements," he said, pointing to the door.

In walked in Casey, Dawson, and Chief Boden. The rest of Firehouse 51, some of their family members and loved ones, and a few people from other firehouses followed, all dressed impeccably. I blinked back tears as I pulled Severide into a hug.

"You're amazing," I said.

We walked over to everyone and I hugged Casey and Dawson, knowing that Severide would have called them first for help.

"This means more to me than any of you could ever know. Thank you so much," I said.

"We're always here to support you. We lift each other up. It's what we do," Casey said.

"What do you need us to do?" Otis asked.

"Just talk to people, share your stories. This charity helps families that have been affected by fires as well as the families of firefighters who have been hurt or killed in the line of duty. There's a lot of people here who think they owe their lives and the lives of their loved ones to firefighters," I explained.

"Alright, everyone. Let's raise some money!" Dawson said, clapping her hands together.

I watched as everyone got to work and I watched as more and more people started walking over to the donation table and pull out their checkbooks. When it was time for my speech, we had raised over $500,000.

"Hello, everyone! My name is Emilia Briggs and I am the co-founder of Family Flames. I want to start out by letting you all know that we have officially passed half a million dollars in donations tonight! Thank you all for your generosity. That being said, I want to welcome a member of the board to the stage, Grace Everly!"

There was a loud round of applause as I walked on stage, and Severide whistled. I laughed softly and rolled my eyes.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Grace Everly. I have been a paramedic at Firehouse 51 for the past 6 years. Originally, I wanted to be a firefighter. I lost my parents in a house fire three days after I graduated high school. I was originally going to be a teacher, but after my parents died, I decided I wanted to do something that would enable me to prevent other people from going through what I went through. One day when I was at the fire academy, we rode along to a warehouse fire. We were supposed to stand off to the side unless we were absolutely needed. I saw that the paramedics weren't able to keep up with the amount of victims that were being pulled from the fire. We had just finished our basic EMT training course at the academy, so I jumped in. I helped save four peoples' lives that day. And that was when I knew I wanted to be a paramedic,"

I paused for a second and looked over at Severide and Dawson. They both nodded at me with encouragement.

"I still lose people. We don't save everyone. It's a hard job in that regard. Sometimes you show up on the scene and you get this feeling in your stomach. This feeling where you know you aren't going to be able to save someone. And when that person dies, their family is left with a massive hole in their hearts. The goal of Family Flames is not to fill that hole. That hole can never be filled. Our goal is to slowly help the family heal. And over time help them to realize that, despite that hole, their heart is still beating. Thank you."

There was absolute silence for a few seconds before everyone burst into applause. I looked around the room and say tears in multiple peoples' eyes, including Severide's. I walked off stage and made a beeline straight for my firehouse family.

"That was amazing," Herrmann said.

"Quite inspiring actually," Cruz said.

"Thank you," I said with a smile.

I felt Severide's arm wrap around my waist. I turned and smiled up at him.

"You did fantastic," he said, kissing the top of my head.

"Thanks," I said.

A few hours later, the night was winding down and people were starting to leave. I hugged and thanked all of my firehouse family members as they left until eventually it was just Severide and I left.

"Are you ready to go? We have work in the morning," he said.

I nodded sleepily, allowing him to wrap me up in his arms for a few minutes.

"Hey, Emilia. Kelly and I are going to head out. Tonight was incredible. Thank you for setting everything up," I said.

"Of course. Have a good night!" she said, hugging Severide and I.

Severide took off his suit jacket and draped it over my shoulders before entwining our fingers and leading me out to the car. As we drove, the emotional exhaustion of telling my story over and over for the past few hours started to set it.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" Severide asked as we walked back up to the apartment.

"Yeah, I'm just tired," I said, unlocking the door.

We made our way to Severide's bedroom. I sat on the edge of the bed and started to pull all of the bobby pins out of my hair, making a small pile next to me. While I did that, Severide knelt down and unbuckled my shoes, rubbing my feet as he took off the heels.

"That feels so good," I said, laying back and closing my eyes.

"You can't fall asleep yet. We have to get you out of that dress first," he said, helping me stand up.

I groaned and struggled to reach the zipper. I felt Severide start to undo it for me and I sighed happily at the feeling of his cool hands on my back. Once the dress was unzipped, I draped it over the back of Severide's desk chair. I started to go to my room in search of a pair of short and shirt to sleep in, but was stopped.

"I've got to get pajamas," I said, looking down at Severide's hand on my arm.

"Just sleep in your underwear," he suggested with a smile.

"You wish. It's too late to start something you can't finish, Severide," I said, disappearing down the hallway.

I located a pair of joggers and an oversized t-shirt and threw them on before making my way back to Severide's room. I saw that his bathroom light was on, so I climbed into bed and pulled the covers over my body. He emerged a few minutes later and settled in next to me.

"Goodnight," he whispered, kissing me and wrapping me up in his arms.

"Goodnight."

I woke up to Severide's alarm the next morning. For a second I considered just rolling over and going back to sleep, but then I remembered that today was my first shift back at 51 since the accident. I rolled over and came face-to-face with a still sleeping Kelly Severide. I let my fingers wander over his body, waking him up gently.

"Well good morning to you too," he said, not opening his eyes.

"Good morning, baby."

"You're excited to get back to work, aren't you?" he said.

"Extremely. I'm going to make breakfast. If I have to come back up here to wake you up again, I won't be so nice," I threatened lightly.

As I rolled out of bed, there was a quick pinch on my butt and I squealed.

"I hate you," I said to Severide, smacking his hand away.

"Oh shut up, baby. You love me," he said, pushing away the covers and heading into the bathroom.

I listened to the sound of the water while I whipped up eggs, bacon, and toast. By the time everything was ready, Severide was just coming downstairs. I shoved a bite of eggs into my mouth and grabbed a slice of toast before running upstairs to get dressed. I pulled on my uniform in between bites of toast, making sure not to get crumbs everywhere.

"Are you almost ready?" Severide called from downstairs.

"Yeah! Just let me brush my teeth," I called back.

After I brushed my teeth, I pulled my still curled hair into a high ponytail and raced downstairs.

"I'm ready," I said, grabbing my keys and jacket.

"After you," he said, pointing to the door.