The next two weeks it seemed like she barely saw Matt. If he wasn't on shift (how in hell he still had to work at 29 after he'd reported what happened, she couldn't figure, except that he said Keen had been suspended so there was that) he was at meetings downtown. Plus, Rafferty had the flu, so there had been some overtime Sylvie had picked up, too. Some nights she managed to sleep in the same bed as him, but that actually seemed like an accomplishment which just proved how crazy things had been. There were really only two bits of good news: Christie had apparently had no clue what he was talking about when he contacted her about the fake profile (she'd known she'd friended it, but hadn't seen the new posts) and Facebook had come through on their investigation or whatever and taken down the fake profile. Well, a sort of good news bit was also that Mom had eventually believed her that the pictures and the profile weren't Matt, that someone had played a really cruel prank, that it was his face pasted on some other body, but she was still leery about Matt now so it was only a partial victory. Dad had seemed mostly baffled (he hadn't, thankfully, actually seen the photos) and pointed out that this was the danger of all these websites. Sylvie had pointed out Matt actually agreed, which was why he didn't have any of the social media sites or apps. The last two conversations with her parents, they'd skillfully avoided any mention of Matt at all. So…it only counted as sort of maybe good news? At least she wasn't still livid anyway.
The night of January 15, she had dinner at the loft with Matt, Kelly, and Stella. Sylvie knew they were all as anxious as she was. No one wanted to just sit around and wait, so they turned on hockey, cracked some beers, and yelled at the match. Thankfully, the Blackhawks were pretty comfortably beating the Canadiens by the end of the first period so it wasn't a stressful match. Halfway through the second period, Matt's cell phone rang. They all tried to act normally, but no one was paying any attention to the match as Matt stepped away from the sound of the television to answer it.
"Casey."
"How'd your appointment go?"
"No, yeah, of course."
"Yeah, no, I understand. It's the smart decision for you." Sylvie got a nasty feeling in the pit of her stomach, and she looked at Kelly, who had an expression on his face that said he had the same bad feeling in his gut.
"It's fine. No. No problem. It makes sense."
"Yeah, you too." Matt ended the phone call, and after a moment, walked back towards them. He looked…yeah, that was not a good look on his face. Kelly muted the television, no one cared about the Blackhawks right now. Matt shook his head, and shrugged.
"That was Polanshek. He's not going back to 29."
"I thought his knee was pretty much guaranteed to clear." Kelly sounded pissed. Sylvie was mostly…not quite heartbroken, but a little confused and disappointed and not even sure if this mattered. Because it didn't necessarily mean Matt wasn't coming back to 51. Did it?
"He took a move to the Bureau of Fire Prevention – doing code enforcement. It's the safer option, and yeah, a man his age, all that crap."
"So, what, you're stuck in his spot permanently?" Stella asked.
"I don't know. That's what Polanshek thought. He said when talked to Chief Gayan, that's what she'd requested." Matt shrugged again. Kelly's imminent explosion was cut off when Matt's phone rang again. He looked at the screen to check the caller, threw a confused look at all of them, and then stepped away to answer it. Sylvie couldn't figure why he bothered, Kelly wasn't about to turn the TV's sound back on so they could all hear his half of the conversation anyway.
"Casey."
"Yes, sir. He just called."
"Polanshek mentioned that Chief Gayan requested that."
"I guess he talked to her, I didn't ask a lot of questions about it."
"Of course, sir. I'll serve wherever the department needs me."
"No, sir, I understand."
"I understand, sir. I know these sorts of decisions are not taken lightly."
"You're asking for my recommendation for the spot?" Matt paused, but she figured he was thinking instead of listening this time. "Captain Halvorsen, from up at 102. I've known him a few years, he runs a tight ship and he's used to working in a house with a chief in it, not having free rein in a house."
"Chief Boden agreed with that?"
"It's all signed, then, and official?" Sylvie thought she was going to hurl. It wasn't that she missed Matt, she absolutely did, of course, but he was so unhappy at 29, and with everything that had happened up there, his injuries and the Facebook thing, he had to come back to 51. He had to.
"Yes, sir. Thank you for calling and letting me know, Commissioner." Matt ended this call as well, and she almost threw a pillow at him when he didn't turn around and come talk to them right away. They were all anxious here, stop clamming up, Matt Casey. He did finally turn around and move back towards them, this time his expression was more just surprise or something close to that.
"That was Grissom. He authorized my transfer about half an hour ago." A smile spread across Matt's face. "I'm officially, permanently, back at 51 at 8 am tomorrow."
"What? That's amazing!" It wasn't at all what she'd expected from what she'd overheard and she was so happy she jumped up from the sofa, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. He caught her easily, of course, and she kissed him soundly out of sheer relief.
"What was all that about your recommendation for the spot?" Kelly asked, though he was grinning happily, as was Stella.
"For 29, the permanent replacement for Polanshek. It's…I can't tell you everything yet, guys. I'm sorry. But it turns out, Polanshek's move wasn't all that voluntary, headquarters said he could take early retirement at reduced pension or he could take the move."
"I don't care about Polanshek or anyone else involved just that you're going to be back at 51." Sylvie told him, kissing him soundly again.
"I'm back on 81." Matt almost repeated, half to himself.
"Glad to have you back, man. Dvorak was decent, but it's not the same without you."
"Hey, can we send out the word to the rest of the guys or we gotta wait 'til tomorrow?" Stella asked. "I know Otis and Mouch especially are ready for you to be back."
"Yeah, send it out, it's official now. Oh, that's the other news. The city is putting a fifth guy on our rig again. We'll have another new guy in a couple weeks or so."
"Tell me they're not bringing over someone from 29."
"No idea, didn't sound like he's a candidate, though."
"Again, I don't care, as long as you are back." Sylvie repeated. "Let's go to bed."
"It's 8:30." Matt replied, sounding confused for a second. This time, Kelly did actually chuck something at him – a crumpled up napkin from the snacks they'd had with the game.
"How were you ever married, man? Take her to bed, dumbass. We'll turn the volume up out here." Just in case Kelly wasn't clear enough, she kissed him again, this time slipping her tongue into his mouth and she let her hand slip from his back to his butt.
"Goodnight, see you in the morning." Matt said in a rush, as he tugged her towards the bedroom. She didn't care that it was far from subtle, what they were going to do. She had a feeling Kelly and Stella might follow their lead anyway, but mostly, she just wanted to celebrate and she could think of few things more celebratory than this.
Matt's return to 51 had been roughly anticipated, but she, Stella, and Kelly had kept a lid on the projected date because so much had hinged – they thought – on Polanshek's medical clearance which could have had some variance to it. She kind of wished they'd had the chance to say 'bye' to Dvorak, who'd after all been in their house for months, but he'd never been very friendly so he probably didn't expect it. He'd never even stopped by Molly's. Nonetheless, she knew Stella had meant it when she said last night she was going to send the word out to the rest of the guys in the house. So she was expecting some sort of welcome back, even if it would be pretty rushed because they only had a little under 12 hours to plan anything. Matt had sworn he didn't want any fuss, just to be reunited with his truck. He had a slightly unhealthy affection for that vehicle. It was kind of adorable. So she was not all that surprised when he walked back into 51 that morning and sort of paused, then lightly ran his fingers along 81, including a more solid tap to the fighting goat emblem. He was smiling, but it was a sort of wet smile. She wasn't going to say anything, and she knew Kelly wouldn't either. Stella had gone ahead into house – probably part of some plot. So it was actually surprising when, aside from enthusiastic hellos and welcome backs, and some appropriately manly hugs and back-slapping, there really wasn't any fuss about Matt being back. Matt disappeared towards his quarters, and she could tell something was up because the guys all waited around sort of anxiously instead of going back to any tasks or heading in for the morning briefing. Laughter and a lot of victorious cheering erupted when they could just hear, from the other end of the firehouse, Casey uncharacteristically cussing. So, clearly, they'd managed something. Before she could go investigate, they had to head to the morning briefing.
"All right, everyone," Chief Boden announced as he came into the room. "First things first, welcome back, Captain Casey." Clapping and cheering broke out, lasting just about half a minute then tapering off. "Your paperwork is waiting in my office, I'll have my assistant bring it by your quarters after the briefing."
"Ah, Chief, about that-"
"Don't worry, I saved all of the personnel requests for you and the last three weeks of logs for Truck 81. Just to help you readjust to being back." More laughter, and Sylvie couldn't help joining in. Matt just threw up his hands, shook his head, and chuckled as well. The rest of the briefing was quick, and she had time to run by Matt's quarters afterwards. She stopped, took in the sight, and started laughing again. Somehow, they had found at least 20 different patterns and colors of duct tape and covered the entire room – windows, walls, desk, chair, and, yes, she could see from peeking in the door, even the bed and the pillow.
"If you're wondering, it's apparently some sort of reference to duct tape as a contractor's best friend. Which it isn't really." Matt appeared behind her. "It is kind of funny, except I have to figure out how to get this much duct tape and the residue off everything."
"I didn't even know there were this many patterns of duct tape."
"Neither did I. But then, I've never needed to use duct tape with little daisies on it." Matt pointed at one of the patterns. It was kind of cute, black with yellow and white daisies. "I've just been using the boring original gray stuff."
"That's what you get for being a professional. Boring, useful, stuff." She smiled, kissing him softly. "Welcome back."
#Truck 81, vehicle accident at 18th and Allport.# The bells went off, and he smiled before moving quickly towards the apparatus floor. The call wouldn't be that different, she was sure, than ones he'd been on while he was at 29, but it would feel different. He was back where he belonged.
The morning and afternoon were slammed with calls. Ambo had been busy, but Truck 81 had literally only been in the bay a total of 30 minutes all day, including the first 10 minutes of shift. So she'd barely seen Matt, for all the excitement she'd had of having him back in house. Ambo had been on several of those calls, though, so she'd gotten work with him again, and keep an eye on him, and she could tell that Kelly was more comfortable, too, with his Squad being the one called to help out or in worst cases save Casey's ass. She was not prepared to come back from a late afternoon call to a fully-decorated common room that was packed with a lot of familiar faces – the whole Herrmann clan, Donna and Terrence Boden, Chloe, Lily, Trudy, everyone's partner had apparently come over. There were streamers, balloons, and a fantastic amount of food. Ritter had been assigned to be look-out apparently, so when 81 rolled back in from overhaul at a scene, he slid back into the room with the 'Truck's back' announcement. A moment later, Matt was following Mouch, Otis, and Stella into the house when everyone yelled "SURPRISE!"
"What is this for?" Matt looked genuinely confused. "I though the duct tape thing was my welcome back."
"Nah, Captain." Herrmann clapped him on the shoulder. "That was our welcome back. This is the rest of the family saying welcome back."
"Uncle Casey!" Kenny Herrmann pretty much careened into Matt. Sylvie had somehow missed that Herrmann's kids called him 'uncle Casey' which made her have to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Annabelle, with a little more decorum suiting her greater years, nonetheless quickly joined her brother. "You gotta see the cake you got! It's awesome!"
"It was too weird to have them call him Matt." Herrmann filled her in as Matt followed the kids over to where the desserts were laid out. "And he babysat enough, had to call him something."
"I didn't know he babysat for you."
"Been doing it kinda regular for the last few years. Think he still feels like he owes me and Cindy for all the times she watched Louie." Herrmann shrugged. "He don't understand family. No count kept. Still, if it means I get to take Cindy out without having to leave Lee Henry in charge, I'll take it."
"Casey!" Terrence Boden also ran over, and Sylvie felt herself tear up a little at how easily Matt swung the boy up into his arms. God, Matt needed to be a father. Not that she wanted to do that now, or you know, all that soon, but he deserved to have those be his kids gathered around him, not kids he borrowed from his friends.
"Did you guys bring me Portillo's?" Matt asked the kids, who all excitedly confirmed it.
"Momma says we hafta like you lots because without you, Dad would have rooms and rooms of homework." Terrence nodded emphatically. "But I like you anyway because you built my new bed."
"I helped your Dad build it." Matt corrected with a laugh. No one in the house (probably including Terrence) believed that Matt had not completely taken charge of any sort of construction project.
"Can we have cake now?" Kenny asked.
"Nope. Apparently I'm the guest of honor, and sandwiches first. Then cake." Matt told the boy. He looked around, clearly taking in how many people he had to greet. He handed Terrence to Chief, and leaned down a little to Annabelle. "Annabelle, can you make me a plate while I say 'hi' to all these grown-ups? That way we can eat and get to cake faster. I trust you to get me all the best stuff."
"I can do it." Annabelle nodded, looking proud of the responsibility. No doubt, in a house full of boys, charge of food was a sacred trust. Matt moved around the room, talking to everyone and lit up with happiness, which made him even more attractive. He was always stupidly handsome, though he wasn't very aware of it, but when he was happy it was just ten times more. He hugged Lily and Chloe, and Sylvie caught up to him just as he was talking to Trudy.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I didn't expect anything like this. They didn't throw me this big a party when I came back after I nearly died."
"You nearly died?!" Chloe asked, looking shocked. "When was this?"
"Uh, about six years ago. Building collapse, fractured skull, ended up with an epidural hematoma. I'm fine, but I guess emergency neurosurgery means it was pretty bad at the time."
"Yeah, that's usually a hint it's 'bad'." Kelly clapped him on the shoulder on his way past. "He just proved how hard-headed he is, Chloe, that's all."
"We missed you. Our husbands complained a lot more." Cindy told him.
"I was gone ten weeks." Matt pointed out.
"Yes, and now you're back and the inexperienced incompetent child they had in your place is gone. I prefer you." Trudy was typically blunt. "Though you still need a bit of seasoning yourself."
"I'm nearly forty, Trudy." Matt chuckled.
"Huh. Like that's old and wizened." Trudy responded with a scoff. "At least I know you're not going to get Randall killed. Dvorak was a moron. Stay here or I'll have Intelligence hunt you down and drag you back."
"I have no plans to leave Truck 81, Sergeant." Matt held up his hands in surrender. He moved on to hug Cindy tightly. He pulled back with that little-boy-grin that could get him just about anything he wanted, though he was thankfully oblivious to its power. "Forget the cake, Cindy, you brought me brownies, didn't you?"
"Would I leave you without brownies, Matt Casey?" Cindy asked, eyebrows raised. He just canted his head, that grin never changing, and she caved. "They're the hot fudge brownies, but eat the sandwich first."
"If you weren't already married…" Matt teased, kissing Cindy's cheek. Sylvie loudly mock-cleared her throat, and Matt reached to pull her into his side. "And if I wasn't already in a wonderful relationship with the most beautiful girl-"
"Don't lay it on too thick, Matt." Sylvie rolled her eyes.
"I'm not." Matt assured. "But we better go eat, Annabelle will have my sandwich waiting by now and she's not the most patient."
