A/N: Hello! I finished chapter nineteen tonight so you guys get chapter sixteen! It's a little bit of a fluffy filler but I figure no one can get enough of happy Brettsey fluff, right? ;) Hope you guys like it!
Happy reading!
angellwings
CHAPTER SIXTEEN: Play With Fire
Severide, for once, doesn't ask any questions or give him any shit about Sylvie. There's a knowing look on his face that tells Matt he doesn't need to ask questions because he already knows the answers.
"Congrats on not being a dumbass," Severide says as he tips his beer bottle at him and smirks.
"Thanks," Casey replies with a scoffing chuckle.
And then the night goes on like any other night at Molly's. Except he's more aware of Sylvie than ever before. Without even trying, he knows exactly where she is at any given moment.
The night's wrapping up and people are starting to filter out when Sylvie approaches the bar.
"Ready?" he asks as she stops next to him.
She nods. "I have a doctor's appointment in the morning and then car shopping so I should probably get some sleep."
"Right. Do you need a ride to the doctor in the morning?" Matt asks as he drops cash on the bar to settle his tab.
"If you don't mind," she answers with an apologetic smile.
"I told you," he says with a kind smile. "Anytime you need a chauffeur, I'm your guy."
"After tomorrow, hopefully I'll be able to get myself around," Sylvie tells him as they head toward the door. They step out onto the street as she continues. This time speaking under her breath, "If I can actually manage a test drive."
"Hey," he says, wrapping a gentle hand around her elbow and waiting for her eyes to meet his. Finally, she turns. Her nervous blue gaze is focused on his with her teeth sunk into the inside of her bottom lip. "If you can't, it's no big deal. Take all the time you need, Sylvie."
She nods as her lips form a stern line. "I know. I just...I'm frustrated with this whole thing. My life finally starts to feel like it's moving forward again and somehow I'm still stuck. I need them to find this guy so I can truly put all this behind me." Her head shakes and she swallows thickly. "I haven't had an update from Spencer in awhile. I don't think that's a good sign."
His hand moves from her elbow, slides down her forearm, until he can link their fingers together. He squeezes her hand before addressing her concerns. "Take it one thing at a time. We'll focus on getting you back to work and back behind the wheel. We'll worry about Spencer later.
She drifts closer until they're close enough for an embrace, but she doesn't make a move to put her arms around him. Instead, she grabs his other hand and closes her eyes.
"I know you don't mind shuttling me around places, Matt, but...being dependent on other people to get to things like doctor's appointments makes me feel like a burden or an obligation and I haven't felt like that in a long time. Not since-not since coming to Chicago." She pauses and sighs tiredly. Her eyes open again, but they don't find him. Even, without direct contact he can tell they're half lidded and exhausted.
He forgets, sometimes, how not being in her own space or keeping up with her own routine might affect her. It would be difficult to not have any space of your own to claim. Especially for someone who's become as independent as he knows Sylvie to be.
She releases his hands. Her left hand goes to her right wrist, to fiddle with her watch band. He's watched her do that several times before. Always when she's anxious or nervous. "So, it's not easy for me. And it's not that I don't want your help or that I'm not grateful for it-please don't think that-"
He lightly encircles her wrist with his fingers, covering her watch band, causing him to successfully earn back her worried stare.
"I don't," he assures her. "I understand."
She sniffles and nods. He hears unshed tears in her voice when she responds. "Thank you."
He shifts back to holding her hand with their fingers laced together. "Come on," he says as he nods in the direction of his truck. "Let's get out of here."
He opens the passenger side door for her but before she climbs in she steps into his space and gives him a slow open mouthed kiss. Her hands drift from his shoulders to the back of his head where her fingers comb through his short hair. He feels her gratitude and hope in the action. It's only their third kiss ever so he's not sure he should be able to discern her emotions so easily so soon, but he is and he can. He meets her lips, movement for movement once he can push aside his amazement. He releases the car door to wrap his arms around her and pull her closer.
The need for air and the reflection of passing headlights pulls him out of the haze of Sylvie (and her kisses that seem to drug and distract him all at once). He grins against her lips and then leans back to meet her eyes, which are now considerably brighter.
"What was that about?" He asks with curious raised eyebrows.
"That was for listening," she replies honestly. "For not assuming the worst. For...being a safe space." She chuckles dryly and lifts one shoulder with playful carelessness. "For basically everything, I guess."
"Well, of all the possible thank you gestures, that's definitely the one I would choose," he replies with a smirk.
She laughs and rolls her eyes. "Never would have guessed. Come on, let's go home."
She steps into the truck, leaving him behind to register her words. It's a small thing, but hearing Sylvie refer to the apartment as 'home' feels entirely too gratifying.
The whole drive home all Sylvie can think about is how wonderful Matt's been about this insane situation and how good it feels to kiss him. Or how his arms around her waist and her chest pressed against his feels a little too perfect. Part of her thoughts have been instigated by Emily and Stella's words at Molly's so she tries to shove them aside. She doesn't mind taking things slow with Matt.
Looking back, she realizes things with Kyle moved too quickly. Before that, her relationship with Antonio, that seemed huge at the time, now feels like a flash in the pan. She was talking him into seeing her one week and then suddenly attending his parent's anniversary dinner the next. So, to her, going slowly with Matt meant taking the time to get it right. And if she ever wanted to get it right with anyone then she wanted to get it right with Casey.
But, on the other hand, how long had she and Matt been dancing around their feelings? Since before Gabby came back certainly, but pinpointing it further back to before Kyle's proposal was looking more and more likely. She hadn't imagined an almost kiss after changing the bandage on the burn on his neck. Initially she thought maybe she had, but now...now she knows she didn't.
They've had time to think about this and consider their feelings. Would it really be moving too fast if she wanted him to keep kissing and touching her for the rest of the night?
No, she thinks immediately while her face flushes and her imagination runs away with her. Her body reacts to her daydreams and it hits her, all at once, just how much she wants Matt Casey to herself for an entire night. No, it definitely wouldn't be moving too fast.
But not tonight. It's already late and she does actually have a doctor's appointment in the morning. Showing up to her doctor's appointment with dark circles under her eyes probably wouldn't be the best idea. Plus, just because she doesn't think it would be too much too soon, doesn't mean Casey will agree. They should have a conversation about it first.
Once inside the apartment, Matt drops his keys on the counter and then slowly reels her into his side with a wide smile.
"What?" She asks as she reflexively smiles in return.
He shrugs. "Just happy to have you here, that's all."
It's times like this that she wishes she could read his mind because that sentiment seems to come from nowhere. She knows him and she knows it doesn't, but she has no clue what thoughts led him there.
She blushes and rests her hands on his shoulders. "I can't say I'm a fan of the circumstances but I do like seeing you so much outside of work. It's been fun doing normal people things with you. And not, you know, running into danger multiple times a day."
He laughs softly and nods his agreement. "Yes, that has been nice. Though, if I'm running into danger, I'd rather do it with you as my backup on Ambo 61."
"Ambo and Truck 81 do make a pretty solid team," she agrees, grinning flirtatiously at him.
"Speaking of having you on Ambo 61," he begins. "What time is your appointment in the morning?"
"Nine," she answers. "My rib feels a lot stronger. I'm sure it'll be fine."
"It still twinges sometimes though," he says as his eyes narrow on her suspiciously. "Don't try and deny it."
"I would never deny it," she assures him. "My best friends are a bunch of first responders who will all very easily see straight through me. There's no point."
He scoffs and lets out a short good humored laugh. "Damn right, there's no point. Especially for you, you wear your heart on your sleeve, Sylvie Brett. It's why you can't keep a secret to save your life."
"I can keep a secret!" She protests feebly.
He quirks a brow at her and gives her a knowing glance, but says nothing.
"Okay, so I can't," she admits with a sheepish grin. "Secrets come with a lot of pressure! Keeping them also typically involves some form of lying and I'm truly horrendous at lying."
"I'm aware," Casey replies with a dry smirk.
"Jerk," she teases.
"What? It's cute," he assures her, grinning easily. "Admirable, even."
She makes a disbelieving noise but smiles at him anyway. "I really should go to bed."
Matt nods and reluctantly releases her. "Right, okay."
Before he can step completely away she grabs his hand and tugs him toward her. "Come with me."
"What?" He asks with a mild startled stare.
"I don't mean-" she cuts herself off and then lets go of his hand to idly grab her wrist. She probably went about that all wrong. His reaction wasn't exactly positive. Maybe he thought she was being too forward. "Nothing has to happen, Casey. That's not what I meant. It's just that we're both adults, you know, and I really do hate that you have to sleep on the couch because of me and I thought now that we're...trying something it wouldn't be a big deal to..." Her nervous rambling starts to run out of steam as her face heats with mortification. "You know what? Nevermind. It's fine. Forget I said anything."
She turns to leave and hopes they can both pretend she kept her big mouth shut. God, she's a dork. How does she always manage to make things awkward with Matt?
"No, wait," Casey says as he hurriedly steps around her to cut off her speedy retreat. "I didn't say no, Sylvie. You just surprised me. That's all. Are you sure you'd be okay with that?"
"You mean do I think you might attack me at any given moment?" Sylvie asks him with a teasing quirk of her brow. "Matt, you have the most self control of any man I've ever met," she tells him with a light laugh. "I trust you."
Honestly, she's a little more worried about herself than him, but there's no reason for him to have to sleep cramped up on the couch anymore. Plus, she'd feel less guilty about crashing with him and Severide if she wasn't putting anyone out of a bed. She thought about offering to switch now that her rib doesn't hurt as much but something told her Matt would never go for that.
"If it keeps you from trying to force your way onto the couch then I'm all for it," Matt agrees as the corner of his mouth ticks upward. His expression is entirely too confident. Even if he's completely right.
"You know me a little too well, I think," Sylvie responds with a soft laugh, and as it turns out she also knows him a little too well.
"Not possible," Matt tells her sincerely. "There's still a lot more to learn."
"Oh, yeah?" She asks, smiling affectionately at him. "Like what?"
He grabs her hand and pulls her down the hall toward the bedroom. "Like, what kind of toothpaste does Sylvie Brett use? How much toothpaste does she use? Does she do as the dentist tells her and floss every day? Does she always wear pajamas with quirky prints to bed? You see? Still plenty of questions."
"Crest with Scope, half what they show in the toothpaste commercials because that's a scam and no one needs to use that much toothpaste, if the dentist says to floss then of course I floss, and no sometimes I wear plain sweats," she answers as they stop by the doorway. "Any more questions?"
"You change, I'll brush my teeth and then I'm sure I'll have some more by the time we swap places," he tells her as his eyes shine with amusement.
"First," she says as she rests her back against the open doorway. "I have a question of my own."
"Yes?" He asks as he props a hand on the wall over her shoulder and leans toward her.
"Left side or right side of the bed?"
"Left," he answers as a smile slowly spreads across his lips. "You?"
"The right." She pauses and reflects his slow smile back at him. "Isn't that interesting?"
"It's certainly convenient," he replies. He pushes further into her space but stops with his lips hovering over hers. His gaze drifts to her mouth and then back up to focus on her eyes. "I really want to kiss you right now but, if we plan to share that bed tonight and our date isn't until tomorrow, I probably shouldn't."
"You're probably right," she agrees, halfheartedly. "We play with fire enough as it is."
"Tomorrow," he promises. "As much as I possibly can without crossing a line."
"Until our car shopping date?" She asks.
He nods and then forces himself to take a step back from her.
She smirks at him with a heated expression before following up with another question. "And after the date?"
He shoves his hands in his pockets and studies the floor for a moment before meeting her eyes again. The crooked sinful grin on his face and the pure want in his eyes when he looks back up at her steals the breath from her lungs. But he plays it off with a casual shrug. "I suppose I'll leave that up to you."
Up to her, huh? If that's the case then she could tell him exactly how she intends for their date to end right now. "Well, then I have a few ideas. Ideas I think you'll really like."
"Hold on to those," he insists as he turns to head toward the bathroom. "We'll be revisiting them tomorrow."
God, she hopes so, she thinks as she watches him retreat down the hall. Sharing a bed tonight is going to be hard enough, but waiting another day after tomorrow? Impossible.
