"What do you mean?" Dawson asked trying to sound innocent.

Shay didn't buy it for a second, "Antonio is over there by Ashley. Can you honestly tell me you didn't know she would be here?"

Dawson looked at Shay and knew she couldn't get away with lying completely so she mostly told the truth, "Okay I knew it was a possibility cause Antonio and Laura were meeting Kyla and her husband here. But I didn't know for sure if Ashley would be here or not."

Casey chimed in, "Is she the new person on truck you were telling me about? You know I meant to ask you Gabby if Ashley was related to Kyla."

"How much did you tell him Dawson?" Shay quickly hissed.

Casey held his hands up, "She told me there was a woman on truck named Ashley Davies so I kinda figured from what she said that this was the same woman."

Shay sighed, "Sorry Matt it's just, um… there's a slight history there."

Casey smiled and pointed, "Well it must be a good history cause she's waving at us with a smile on her face."

Shay turned and saw exactly what Casey had described.

Dawson then asked, "Why were you gonna ask about Ashley being related to Kyla Matt?"

He shrugged, "I've known Kyla since she was a rookie. Back then she was Kyla Davies and I knew she came from a family of firefighters mostly so it occurred to me that they might be related."

Shay's mood was unreadable as she said, "Well enough chit chat, let's move along with this little set up." She took two steps then turned back to Dawson, "You know you're lucky I love you so much, right?"

Dawson laughed, "Come on Shay, this will be fun. And if it's not, we can just get drunk and laugh about this failed attempt at resolution."

"Yeah we'll see how this goes." Shay replied rolling her eyes. "Though lets recall what happened the last time I was drinking and met Ashley in a bar. That was the beginning steps of this now kind of awkward situation." Shay finished sarcastically.

Casey's eyes went wide at Shay's comment, but he recovered quickly and laughed before asking, "Was that a fun night?"

"Yes it was but that's not the point. Now things are weird between us, that's the point." Shay replied. "Let's just say this is a weird situation and I'm not sure how I ended up in it."

"She's not stalking you or harassing you is she Shay?" Casey asked with a bit of concern in his voice.

"Why does everyone jump right to the stalking thing?" Shay said then shook her head, "No I don't know why she is in Chicago now or why she is at 51." When she noticed the confused look on his face she continued, "It's complicated Matt so don't worry. Just buy me a drink cause I think I'll need a few."

When Ashley had seen Dawson, Shay and the man she assumed was Casey she made a split second decision. Obviously Dawson and Kyla were forcing her and Shay to socialize. She could fight it by leaving but why not play along and make the best of the situation so she smiled and waved the trio over. She thought about her time so far at 51. After the shock of seeing Shay on her first day had worn off Ashley had thought about the night she met the fiery blond. She had immediately found Shay attractive and was happy to find that Shay was also a likeable person. They had a rough start at their second meeting but Ashley decided right then and there that she would look past Severide's questioning and give a friendship with Shay a chance.

Dawson approached Ashley and gave her a hug "I didn't know you'd be here Ashley."

"You may not have known for sure but you hoped Kyla would convince me to be here." Ashley whispered into Dawson's ear playfully.

Dawson had a blush on her cheeks when the embrace ended. She then tried to play the good friend and hostess. "Obviously you know Shay from work."

Ashley leaned in to hug Shay and whispered, "I know we were both set up on this one."

"Yeah." was all Shay could manage as a response. The close proximity to Ashley fogged her brain a bit.

After the embrace ended Dawson continued with the introductions, "And this is Matt Casey…"

"The actual Lieutenant of truck at 51." Ashley finished as she held out her hand. When he returned the handshake she said, "It's nice to meet you."

"You too Ashley," He said with a smile. "I've heard a lot about how things have been for you with Driver in charge."

Ashley smiled and shrugged, "Well you have to deal with the situation you're given whether you like it or not."

Casey laughed then said, "Valid point. But I guarantee things will be different now so I hope you're ready to prove you know your shit to everyone."

Ashley's smile grew, "Absolutely! I'm tired of being made to look like a useless girl when I'm actually a damn good firefighter."

Casey smiled back, "Good to know cause on scene I don't willingly give up my people unless necessary."

"Well, I won't let you down." Ashley said.

"Good." Casey replied with a nod. "But tonight is about celebrating and having fun."

Ashley nodded, "Well between you coming back and your girl entering the academy there seems to be a lot to celebrate." She said hoping he agreed. She knew enough guys who were not always supportive of women going into the academy, especially their girlfriends, and she hoped Casey wasn't one of them.

"Absolutely!" He said with a proud smile. He then raised his glass of soda towards her as she did the same with her beer and clinked glasses.

Ashley was answering a text from Mills, she hadn't noticed that the couples of their group had gone to dance leaving just her and Shay at the bar.

"Texting a potential hook up?" Shay asked jokingly.

"Hardly." Ashley said then looked at Shay and couldn't help but smile and tease Shay a little, "Why are you jealous?"

Shay shook her head, "Not really. Just making conversation since it's just you and I left at the bar."

Ashley looked around then said, "Sorry I wasn't paying attention. Mills just texted me asking if I was coming to Molly's anytime soon."

"You and Mills seem to be pretty chummy." Shay replied.

Ashley shrugged, "I guess we bonded over being on Driver's shit list. I've also found he's pretty fun to hang out with too."

Shay laughed, "Does Mills realize he has no chance with you?"

"Yes he knows I'm gay." Ashley admitted then quickly added, "But he doesn't know that we hooked up."

"I didn't ask." Shay said.

"I know but I didn't know how you felt about people at 51 knowing our history." Ashley admitted.

Shay laughed, "What, the guys knowing that I hooked up with the hottest girl in the house? I think that would help my image in their eyes given my shitty choices in the past."

"Well they might just jump to the same assumptions that Severide did and that would make me look kinda crazy. Probably not much of a step up from previous women." Ashley replied.

"I'm sorry Kelly gave you the third degree. I didn't ask him to but he's like the protective big brother I never asked for sometimes." Shay explained. "I know you have your reasons for being here now and I have a feeling they have nothing to do with me."

Ashley nodded then replied, "No offense but they don't. Oddly enough we met the weekend before a couple events changed my life completely. Those events caused my move from Milwaukee and ironically brought me to your firehouse."

"Look I don't expect anything to happen between us because you're here now." Shay said.

A few moments of silence followed before Ashley spoke, "I know. You haven't pushed or reached out since I was shitty to you and I'm sorry about that. I was wrong to judge you because of Severide's comments. Given the situation you guys have every right to be suspicious."

"It's okay Ashley. You don't really know me or Kelly so I get why you were pissed. I should have tried harder to explain." Shay said. "And again, for the record, I never asked Kelly to talk to you. I was planning on talking to you myself when I got over the shock of seeing you standing next to Boden, he just got to you first."

Ashley sighed and said, "Can we kind of start over?"

"How so?" Shay asked, curious to see where this was going.

"We seemed to get along before we ended up in bed together. How about we try being friends?" Ashley suggested.

Shay paused for a moment before she responded. She knew her answer but for some reason she wanted Ashley to sweat it out a bit. Finally she answered, "I think that's a great idea."

Ashley smiled, "Really?"

Shay shrugged, "Well I still think you're fucking hot but I'm good with being friends."

"You're not so bad yourself Shay." Ashley admitted. Though given Shay's flirty tone she added, "But for now all I can offer is friendship."

Shay smiled and decided to push the envelope a little, "With the potential of friends with benefits?"

Ashley couldn't help but smile, "Benefits are always good, especially when a beautiful woman is concerned."

Shay gave her a smile and said, "You consider me a beautiful woman?"

"Honestly I'd be blind if I didn't Shay." Ashley said playfully but quickly got serious. "But I'm really not in a good place to start something serious."

Shay nodded, "It's okay. Friends, even friends with benefits, are better than serious commitments."

Ashley smiled, "A woman after my own heart."

Shay shook her head, "No honestly I'm not after your heart, I'm more after your body."

Shay's comment seemed to shake Ashley back to reality. Somehow she had gone from trying to be friends with Shay to flirting with the blond. Ashley knew she needed to decide how to proceed but no thinking would happen if they kept drinking and flirting, more likely they would end up in bed together by the end of the night.

Before Ashley could say anything more to Shay Casey and Dawson joined the conversation.

Dawson said, "We should head to Molly's soon Shay."

"Alright." Shay said still looking at Ashley. "You wanna go over to Molly's with us?"

Ashley shrugged, "Why not. I'm supposed to meet Mills over there anyways and I'm sure the rest of our party could be convinced to join us." she suggested knowing there was probably safety in numbers because she wasn't sure yet how to deal with the flirty Shay she had in front of her.

After gathering everyone together they all agreed to head to Molly's which was a few blocks away.