At the end of January, Matt and Kelly have some sort of falling out. No one could tell what it's about, nothing to do with a call, and neither one of them is really talking. That's typical for them, though. Sylvie is completely frustrated by it, and so is Stella. It came out of nowhere, like they'd been talking at Molly's and then – bam – they were fighting. Fighting implied speaking to one another. So no, they weren't fighting. They were just being pre-teen girls and not speaking to one another. No one at 51 was going to wade into that mine-laden field between them. In further typical frustrating form, the next night after shift, they were back at Molly's, talked briefly, and were then the best of friends again. Sylvie knew she would never understand men, especially not those two men. But, at least the loft wouldn't be tense anymore.
Matt took her out to breakfast the morning after the next shift. She knew there was something he wanted to talk about. She just didn't know what it was. The only thing she was completely confident it was not was a break-up. Anything else, well, sometimes with Matt, he played things so close to the chest it was hard to predict. When he took her to her favorite little French bakery place for breakfast, she knew it was something big. Matt didn't actually love the food here (he wouldn't admit it, but she suspected he agreed with Kelly that the portions were too small – European-sized portions did not agree with the firefighters she knew) so this was clearly for her. He was maybe trying to butter her up for something. They chatted idly and amiably through the meal, but then Matt started to look nervous.
"Matt, would you just spit it out? You must have something important to tell me – you're nervous, and you brought me here for my favorite crepes, and you told me to wear heavy shoes which…it's winter in Chicago, Matt, I was going to wear boots anyway. So just tell me whatever it is."
"I guess, first, I want to thank you."
"Thank me for what?"
"For letting me deal with this, process things, just...take care of things my way, even when I know you think I'm doing it wrong."
"Not wrong just frustrating, because I want you to share things with me."
"I know, and I'm trying, I just, I'm not used to someone who listens and doesn't tell me what to do." Matt admitted with a small shrug. "I know you're not Gabby. I got so used to every time I went to her with anything, she either went 'Gabby Dawson' on it and handled it her way, regardless of what I wanted or needed or felt, or she told me I was reacting wrong, that my feelings didn't matter or were invalid. I know she loved me as best she could but I don't," Matt paused, clearly gathering his thoughts again. "One of the many things I love about you is that you let me do things my way, even when it makes you nuts. You don't try to get me to be what you want. You take me as I am. I appreciate that, truly, and thank you for that."
"Matt, I don't want you to be anything other than the man you are. So that's easy. You don't need to thank me for loving you."
"Feels like maybe I do. I know it's not as easy as you make it look." Matt smiled broadly at her then, and kept talking, which cut off her immediate rebuttal to his stupid idea that he wasn't easy to love. "I want to show you something. I mean, I also hope you're not going to be really pissed at me for this. I had to jump on this, so I did. It's maybe hypocritical given how much I hate big emotional decisions without my input, but anyway, uh, I guess I can tell you and then show you."
"Matt, you're rambling."
"Right." He took a deep breath, put a hopeful smile on his face, and met her eyes firmly. "I bought a house."
"You…when did you buy a house?"
"I closed on it yesterday, that's what I had to duck out of shift to do."
"You bought a house. Without even mentioning it to me." It was his money, so that was his right, but the fact he didn't say anything at all bothered her.
"See, that's the reaction I was afraid of." Matt sighed, and visibly deflated. "Are you going to let me explain or should I stop talking and just let you get to the being pissed at me part?"
"No, I'd like an explanation." Her voice was a little sharper than she intended.
"The realtor called me, said he had a great place he wanted to show me, so I took the meeting, thinking I was just doing a first look, then I'd talk to you. Just information gathering. I know I'm not really allowed to do that without you, I'm sorry,"
"Matt, hold on." She stopped him, because that just couldn't stand. "Matt, you're allowed to do what you want – I'm your girlfriend, not a prison warden. You don't need my permission to take a meeting. Or even to buy a house. We're not married, it's not my money, it's your risk, your decision-"
"No, it should've been ours, but trust me, when you see it, you'll get it. The meeting was that morning, the morning of the Facebook mess. I had to make an offer right away, the price was too good and the location is…kind of perfect. I didn't want to lose it. So I had the financing already arranged, you knew that," she did already know he'd gotten his loan approved, had the financing to buy a house set up, just waiting for him to make an offer somewhere, "and the seller was motivated and I waived any repairs from the inspection – I can do the work myself or I'd rather hire the guys I know do good work anyway – and it closed really quickly. I was about to call you, after I made the initial offer, but then your mom called and it got shoved aside. So I'd like to take you over to my new house, if you are…ready to check it out?"
"Is this why you and Kelly were arguing?"
"He got a little pissed that I did it without telling him. Once I told him how long I think it's gonna take me to actually move out, he calmed down." Matt shrugged. "I think he wants, needs, some time to get used to the idea."
"Well, let's go see it." She paused, for a moment, a smile spreading across her face as she realized something. "You bought a total fixer-upper didn't you?"
"Would anything else be fitting for me and you?"
She played along with his idea to blindfold her on the way to the new house. She also threatened him with getting carsick if she was stuck like that very long. She knew Chicago pretty well, but not well enough to even pretend that she could follow turns and distances with her eyes covered. Still, it made him happy and excited, and she loved how into this he was getting. They must be getting close, he was going quite slow, she could tell.
"Give me a sec, I'm gonna park in the garage the street out front was pretty full. You can take the blindfold off, though it's not the best view of the new place." Matt admitted, and she slipped the blindfold off and opened her eyes as he eased his truck into the garage. "The garage is going to be a bit tight with your car and my truck, but they'll both fit. It needs a new roof and new siding, too – and a new door, I think, but that can wait. With two cars, you'll have to go around – your car being here will mean this door won't be able to open." Matt pointed out, as he led her through the garage which was just a basic garage, out into the backyard. She looked around, seeing immediately what he'd liked about it. Well, one of the things, he'd obviously liked lots of things about the house.
"It's a good size for…we must still be pretty close in."
"We're in Bucktown."
"You got a house, a complete detached single-family three-story house, with a yard, in Bucktown? Did you sell some organs on the black market?" She asked, looking at the house itself. It was brick, and from the back three full floors, though given the slightly sunken backyard, probably two-and-a-half in the front.
"I told you I had to jump on it. You'll see the inside, see why I got a good price."
"How much did you pay for this?"
"Let's save that discussion for a time when you've been out with Foster."
"Uh-huh. That bad, huh?"
"No, just not what I want you to worry about. Let me worry about the money, okay? Just think about what this yard can look like once it's had some work put into it."
"It's kind of plain, but it's not overgrown or…well, we need to seed some grass in some spots, and add some flowers or something. Maybe there are some, it is winter." She allowed. She followed him towards the house. He turned to her, looking like a kid at Christmas, so excited to show her what he'd gotten…them? It seemed like he wanted this to be a 'them' project, not just a 'him' project.
"Syl, you want to start with the apartment or the main house? The ground floor is a stand-alone one-bedroom one-bath apartment – no renter in it currently, and I think we can make it part of the house easily enough, it's not like I was planning to rent it out."
"Wouldn't that help pay the mortgage, though?"
"Babe, didn't I just say to let me worry about the money?"
"I know, but Matt, Bucktown is really expensive, and-"
"I make enough. We can talk money later, if you really want, but for now, let's talk fixer-upper okay?"
"I can do that." She nodded, and forced herself to pretend this was like a TV show, make-believe money, and all she had to do was dream up the renovations. That was clearly what he wanted and she was enjoying his excitement so if he wanted to dream for today, she was going to dream big. He unlocked the ground floor door, and ushered her inside. She looked around. It wasn't bad, it was just very dated. They were in a small kitchen area, which looked like it had last been updated about 1990. Matt gave her a quick tour, it was a only about 700 square feet, but the bathroom wasn't too bad, it needed some cosmetic updates, and the whole place could use new flooring and fresh paint, but there was a nice-sized living area, a bedroom big enough for a couple to share (though the closet was a bit small), and then a tiny laundry closet under the stairs to go up to the rest of the house. There was also a blocked off area he said was the utility area – water heater, furnace, fun stuff like that. The stairs were currently walled off so there was no access inside to the upper floors.
"I can re-open this up, check the stairs for soundness of course, but it leads up to the kitchen on the first floor. Then this is all part of the main house again, but I was thinking, if you like the idea, of keeping this laid out like this. It has its own entrance to both the front and the back."
"I thought you didn't want to rent it."
"I don't, but it would make a pretty great guest suite, don't you think? Even if your parents come to stay for a week, or longer, they'd be comfortable here." Matt shrugged. "I'll re-do the bathroom to just have a shower, instead of the bath/shower combo. It's also a great place for any of our friends to crash if they need a place. As my situation proved, you never know when you might need to help someone out."
"That is both a great idea, and incredibly sweet. I love it." She really did. She loved the idea of him planning for her parents to visit 'his' house for long periods of time. She loved what it was telling her about where he was thinking they were going with this. This was Matt Casey planning a life, a long-term life, with her, and if this place had any furniture in it whatsoever, she would jump him right here and right now. Instead, she made do with kissing his face off. Matt backed her into a wall, and pinned her there, and she wasn't about to complain. His hands were under her thighs, and she followed his cue and wrapped her legs around his hips, bringing their bodies even closer together. Matt finally pulled back, his hair mussed by her hands, and looking like he was just a little bit wrecked.
"The things you make me think about doing, Sylvie Brett." He shook his head and chuckled.
"What sort of things?" She asked with a teasing smile.
"It's been a lot of years since I had sex on a bare floor, but if this one wasn't this dusty, I'd take you right here and now." He told her, using the leverage available by having her still wrapped around him and pinned to the wall to thrust up against her. She could feel he was definitely interested, and that just made her body react in all sorts of delicious ways.
"The dust might be worth it."
"Maybe, but I didn't pack condoms to come look at the new house." Matt confessed, looking a little chagrined.
"Well, next time we come over, bring something to christen the place." She didn't tell him that she had made a 'big emotional decision' without him, that in a little while he could ditch the condoms in general, she'd leave that for another time.
"Maybe not the very next time." Matt hedged. "But at some point, I will definitely take you up on that christening."
"Okay, so this is the guest suite. Show me the rest of the house."
They had to go back outside, then up the stairs of the back porch to get inside. Matt assured her that he was going to redesign and rebuild the back porch, which was structurally sound but far from brand new, just like the rest of the house. The house itself, he told her, was built in the 1890s. He looked a little apprehensive as he unlocked the back door, and let her go into the house first.
"Uh, wow." This was definitely going to be a lot of work. "Matt, this is…baby, this is a total gut job." The kitchen was awful. It was like being thrown back to 1972 except with nearly fifty years of wear, and the linoleum was in terrible condition, the cabinets were just ugly, and the harvest gold laminate counters were hideous. The appliances were missing, and there was no sink either. She took another minute to look around though. "The space is nice, though, and when it's not a gray winter day, this will be great natural light, and you've got a pretty nice-sized eat-in area here, too. The light fixtures all needed to be replaced."
"I'm gonna have the whole place rewired, new plumbing, new HVAC, the works." Matt informed her evenly. "There's nowhere near enough outlets for 21st century lifestyles."
"Is this a bathroom?" She pointed at a door next to the kitchen, as they moved into the living room.
"Yep, just a half bath on this floor." Matt nodded. "Don't bother looking – it's about 1972, too – and the toilet has been removed. The seller wanted to start a remodel, he got it real cheap off the city a few years ago, but he hasn't been able to get the money together to flip it."
"Please tell me you are ripping every bit of flooring out of this house."
"You don't like near-shag carpet in the living room?"
"No, and it's poop brown, Matt! God knows what is in it and staining it that we just can't see. You are having a massive demo-day with this place."
"Pretty sure I know a volunteer crew that likes to break stuff." Matt laughed.
"But this is a really great size living room, and they put in a big picture window to let in lots of light." Sylvie had to admit that much.
"I'm replacing everything – even the drywall. New windows throughout, too."
"Those look pretty new." Sylvie pointed out.
"They are – but they're the wrong windows for Chicago winters. Step over to it, hold your hand up about a foot from the glass. What do you feel?"
"Wow, that's cold. But windows are always-"
"Yeah, not like that. I'm guessing the last owner wasn't a contractor, with money issues, he tried to start a reno and got what was cheap and would keep the wet out. Plus, I think the window is the wrong look."
"You don't like the style of it."
"Not for this house. It's too mid-century for a late Victorian house. I was thinking to split it back up into two windows, the original configuration probably for the house."
"Hmmm…show me the plans. That could definitely work." She stopped. "Oh, Matt, this is your house, you should do what you want."
"No, Sylvie, I bought it but…I want you to be involved with this. On every level. Okay?"
"You know I can't resist a good renovation." She was telling the truth, but she was also happy to know he was seeing this as their house, not his house.
"I do indeed."
He took her upstairs then, and showed her the three bedrooms and two bathrooms up there. The two front bedrooms were tiny, and the master was never going to fit a king-sized bed or anything, but it was definitely big enough for them to share, and she might not love the closet size but with good organization they could make it work. The master bath was missing entirely, halfway to renovated she guessed, but the space was nice, they could do a lot with it. Matt said he figured it used to be a small fourth bedroom. The hall bath actually had fixtures in it, but they were olive green, in fact, the whole bathroom was pretty much olive green. He hadn't been lying when he said it was going to be a lot of work. She loved the idea of conquering it together, though. And the bedrooms all had great windows – Matt was going to be replacing all of them, he said, for the same reasons as downstairs – he wanted to reconfigure the street-facing smaller bedrooms to better match the origins of the house and match the first floor window pattern, and he wanted to put a Juliet balcony on the master instead of the large porch there now, and replace the sliding door with something more energy efficient. She knew she'd be having pleasant dreams tonight of a future in this house, the way she reimagined it – and if those dreams included Matt, and at least a couple little baby Caseys, well, that's because that's what she wanted. She didn't really think Matt would object, but she wasn't going to tell him that just yet. She didn't want him to feel rushed into anything, not after his marriage with Gabby imploded the way it did. Still, if he had bought a house, and wanted her to help him renovate it, he had to be thinking that same direction, didn't he?
It was nearly 4 o'clock in the afternoon when she and Matt stopped by Molly's. She was trying not to laugh as they walked in the door. Technically, Molly's didn't open until 6 pm except for special events – while they had a kitchen, they didn't really serve food unless it was catered in, so there was no reason to be open before 'drinking hours' really began. She'd texted Stella, though, and warned her that she and Matt had invited everyone from House 51 for an early drink. They were expecting most of the house by 4. As they came inside, Stella already had her eyebrows raised, clearly expecting an early tip on the big announcement.
"I'd like a glass of rose." Sylvie said instead.
"My usual draft." Matt also ordered a drink quickly. "Both on my tab."
"Matt." Sylvie shot him a look. He could let her pay for something by this point in their relationship.
"So, what's the big announcement?" Stella pressed.
"You'll find out." Matt replied, accepting the beer she slid across the bar.
"Oh, come on, you're opening us early, you can't give me the news early too?"
"Nope." Sylvie grinned broadly. Matt's big surprise at the house, the biggest surprise, had made her laugh and literally jump up and down and she wanted everyone else's reactions to be genuine as well, no time to think up an 'acceptable' response.
"I don't see a diamond." Stella commented after she'd delivered their drinks. Matt nearly did a spit-take. Sylvie had a second to panic that he had actually intended to ask her, tonight, in front of all their friends, but then reasoned he would never do that. He wasn't usually one for a big production with an audience. Oh, he'd make a proposal 'big' if he thought she wanted that (she didn't) but he'd know that she would want that moment to be something for them, not for spectators.
"Hey, Casey, Brett, what's the big news?" Herrmann appeared from the back, carrying a crate of clean glasses.
"Well, it's not a diamond ring." Stella remarked.
"Give it about ten, fifteen minutes for everyone else to get here. You'll find out soon enough." Matt replied. People started filtering in quickly. Most announcements were made on-shift if they wanted to talk to the whole house, so being called to Molly's piqued interest. Matt didn't make them wait too long.
"So, I wanted to thank everyone for all the support last year, after the fire, and with everything that's happened since then." Matt started, then paused for a second. "My claim was officially settled just before Christmas, and yesterday, I closed on a new house. I wanted to invite you all to something of a house warming."
"Uh, Captain, ain't a house warming supposed to be held in the house?" Herrmann asked.
"That's the thing, it's kind of a fixer-upper. Sylvie and I are going to be working on it for a while and we're gonna need some help. Demo crews especially this weekend."
"Count me in." Herrmann volunteered. A chorus of 'me toos' went around the room. Figured. Demo day was the fun day, they got to tear stuff out and break stuff. Sylvie also noticed that not one person had missed that 'Sylvie and I', and she less than discretely switched her wine glass to her left hand so no one would start asking that particular question just yet.
"So, I'm still gonna be at Severide's for a few more months, sorry, Kidd." Matt laughed, and Stella rolled her eyes.
"Ain't my idea to kick you out, don't go blaming me!"
"But first, I wanna show you guys my new place."
"Uh, we all just got drinks, Casey." Cruz pointed out.
"Bring 'em with." Matt was nearly outright laughing now, as he took her hand and went out the rarely-used side door of Molly's. Confusion obvious, and muttering loudly among themselves, the group from 51 followed them outside. It was getting towards sunset, but it was still easily light enough to see from here, if you knew what you were looking for.
"Okay, Case, what's going on?" Kelly asked.
"Well, Herrmann, I sure hope you're ready for demo crews to end up at Molly's every day." Matt was grinning, and pointed just across the street and past the alley. "That's my new house."
"Wait, you bought that house?" Herrmann asked, looking shocked. Everyone looked surprised. There wasn't even a for sale sign in the front yard, she and Matt had taken it down earlier this afternoon.
"Well, I figured I couldn't beat the neighbors."
"That is fantastic!" Herrmann practically exploded. "Hell, you can toss a football from your front door to Molly's!"
"Damn, how did you afford Bucktown?" Otis asked, his face as surprised as everyone else's.
"It needs a lot of work, and I had a lot of equity in the old place, after I flipped the place I had before that. If I do the work myself, most of it anyway, I can afford the major renovations needed. But it's a great neighborhood and if the neighboring bar gets too loud, I know who to call."
"Call – yeah right, come join the party." Herrmann shot back.
"You know your house just became the official crash pad." Capp remarked with a broad grin.
"Not for a while yet – most of the house doesn't even have plumbing fixtures in it. But, I can always count on a cold beer after all that work."
"Well, alright, let's go back in and celebrate – welcome Casey to the neighborhood right!" Herrmann called, and Sylvie waited back just a minute with Matt. She really did love that the house was this close to Molly's. It was like having Molly's almost as an extension of their home, except that they could leave and lock the door when they wanted some separation, too. Plus, as he pointed out, there were great parks in the neighborhood, good schools (yes, he'd been thinking about schools, clearly the 'baby Caseys' weren't far from his mind either), and it wasn't that far to work either. She leaned up to kiss him fondly, but he deepened the kiss, and she was so distracted by his tongue in her mouth and the feel of him beneath her hands and his hands on her, that she was completely unprepared for Cruz to pop his head back out the door.
"Hey, you two, cut it out – you can't do that on the street in Chicago, what do you think this is, Mardi Gras?! Get inside, we're celebrating!"
