Sylvie watched in horror as the building began to crumble, with her coworkers and the family still inside. Boden grabbed his radio shouting, "Everyone out, NOW!" But the only response was static. Stella started running for the door, but Hermann grabbed her, pulling her away from the dangerous wreckage. There was a moment of silence, then Gallo's voice squawked, "we're trapped in the bathroom! Severide is down!" Joe raced up the ladder towards the wreckage, Boden shouting for him to stop, but he entered the burning building, rules be dammed.
Stella was fighting against Hermann, screaming at him to let her go. Joe called on the radio "the back room is blocked, but I think with help I could lift it."
Chief Boden closed his eyes. Lose half his best firefighters, or save all of them but risk all of them. He knew with lives at stake, they needed to take their chances. "Alright, go go go!" He yelled to the men and women waiting anxiously outside. Hermann drug a hose out on the lawn, ready to let loose when he got the go ahead. Joe, Stella, Capp and Tony raced up the ladder and into the back room, pushing up on the fallen beam from one side, while Gallo and Mouch pulled on the other, finally loosening the rubble enough for them to slip through. Gallo passed Stella the boy, and the grandmother to Capp and Tony. There was already a backboard waiting on the ladder and they secured the victims, taking them down to the ambulance. Stella glanced frantically back at the wreckage, gasping "Where's Kelly!?"
Then she saw him, being half carried, half drug by Casey. He was semi conscious, moaning in pain. "Get him a backboard," Casey ordered, "a beam came down on his back." Blood was pouring out of the side of Casey's face, his helmet askew. The last of them hurried down the ladder, rushing Kelly to the ambulance. Ambulance 99 had already taken the victims to Chicago Med, so 61 took Severide, Stella sat in the back, gripping his hand. Sylvie caught a glance of Matt, standing upright talking to Hermann, and she breathed a sigh of relief. They raced down the streets, rushing him into the ER, the doctors whisked him away to run tests and do X-rays, and Stella sat nervously in the waiting room, Sylvie and Emily by her side.
After a while, the rest of 51 showed up, still dirty from the fire. Casey had dried, matted blood all down the left side of his face. Sylvie rushes over to him, worried. "Someone needs to look at that," she insisted.
He responded gruffly, "I'm fine."
Putting a hand on her hip and raising her eyebrow she stated, "you know I'm not gonna give up that easily."
He sighed, "Fine. You can clean it up."
She grabbed some supplies and they walked to the family restroom down the hall. She dabbed at his wound and he winced, suddenly aware of a lot of stinging in his face. Examining it closer she noted, "there seems to be a lot of tiny cuts. Like glass maybe?"
Casey frowned, telling her, "the mirror."
"Oh, Casey. You really should be checked for fragments."
He waved it off. "Later. Once we see how Kelly is."
She continued to clean the wound until it looked presentable, luckily she didn't see any major issues of foreign materials in his face. As she turned to go, he grabbed her wrist, spinning her back towards him. Pushing her up against the wall, he covered her mouth with his, kissing her with an intense passion that left her breathless. He pulled away for a moment, placing his forehead against her's he said, "the roof just came down and the first thing I thought of was you." Tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, he kissed her nose, then her cheek, then her neck and finally her mouth. "I thought, this can't be it. Not when life is finally so good," he whispered in her ear.
She smiled at him, wrapping her arms around his waist, she laid her head on his chest and they just held each other for a moment, thankful to be safe. Finally, they pulled apart, returning to the rest of the team. Mouch and Gallo were being checked out, but they hadn't been hit with rubble like Severide had. Joe was getting treated for a burn on his wrist, the rest of the team was sitting in the waiting room around Stella, whose knee was shaking nervously.
After what seemed like forever, Dr. Marcel emerged. "Is Kelly's family here?" He asked them.
"We're his family," Hermann responded, placing his hand on Stella's shoulder.
Dr. Marcel nodded and continued, "Kelly has a broken right leg, and various broken ribs, some lacerations on his back. But with some time he should recover nicely. There's no signs of any internal damage, but he's beat up pretty bad."
Firehouse 51 breathed a collective sigh of relief, and Stella jumped up, "Can I see him!?" She asked, and the Doctor nodded, leading her back to his room. The rest of the team took the rigs back to 51.
Upon arriving back at the firehouse, they entered the break room to see a stack of pizza boxes on the counter, a young woman was getting plates and utensils out of the cabinet.
"Hey 51! Hope your hungry!" Chloe said, smiling at them. As she turned, her growing belly was evident, and she had a special glow about her. Joe smiled, giving her a kiss, then one to her belly. Everyone lined up for pizza, and Sylvie approaches Chloe, smiling widely and giving her a quick hug.
"You look fantastic. How are you feeling?" Sylvie asked.
"Thanks, I'm good! Finally starting to get my energy back!"
"Oh yeah?" Sylvie asked, "what do you mean?"
"Well, the first trimester I was just so exhausted. I know everybody is different, but I just wanted to take a nap all the time. And had weird food aversions. Like peanut butter. I still cringe thinking about it," she laughed.
Sylvie laughed too. "Well, you look great, the second trimester is going to be good to you," she assured her friend.
Chloe said, "I guess I better enjoy it before I'm as big as a house!"
Sylvie insisted Chloe would still be as beautiful as ever. She watched as Chloe walked over to Joe, he wrapped his arms around her as she leaned her head on his shoulder. Sylvie smiled as she watched the couple, returning to sit with Emily.
Glancing at her buzzing phone, Sylvie saw a text from Stella: 'Need a girls night. My place."
Sylvie texted back a yes, excited to get some girl time. Not that she didn't enjoy her evenings with Casey, but when they worked together all day, then went home together, there wasn't much to talk about. She was sure to go home from Stella's tonight with some juicy gossip about Emily's love life, which always seemed to be in turmoil.
Sylvie heard music as she knocked on Stella and Kelly's apartment door. Casey had gone to the hospital to keep Severide company, who was already insisting he was fine and ready to go home. Stella flung the door open, Emily was already there, dancing with some wine in her hand. "Hey girl!" She called to Sylvie.
"How's Kelly doing?" Sylvie asked.
Stella gave her a big smile, "he's great, they say he'll be recovered in no time. He was super lucky." Sylvie nodded, patting her friend's hand gently, thankful things hadn't been worse. It was expected with the job, but it never got easier when one of their own was hurt.
Stella led her to the kitchen, pointing to the wine glasses and some snacks on the table. "Help yourself," she said, gesturing to a pot of spaghetti on the stove. "I'm no chef like Sylvie Brett, but I can still make your favorite, girl."
Sylvie was famished, and she lifted the lid of the pot, the aroma wafting out to her nose. But the smell of tomatoes made her nose wrinkle.
"What's wrong?" Stella asked, noting Brett's odd expression.
"I don't know. Is this a new type of sauce? It smells weird."
Stella shook her head. "Same recipe I use at the firehouse."
Confusion crossed over Sylvie's face. Why all of the sudden did the smell of spaghetti turn her stomach?
Holy crap.
"Oh, shit."
Stella and Emily's heads snapped up when they heard her swear. That was very unlike Sylvie. "What's wrong?" Emily asked, and they rushed over to her. The color had drained from her face, a look of alarm in her eyes.
"I don't want to eat this."
Stella laughed, "Its okay, Brett, you don't have too. I understand."
"No. You don't get it. I LOVE your spaghetti, Stella. I don't WANT to eat it."
Stella and Emily raised their eyebrows, unsure what point she was trying to get across.
"Are you sick?"
"No. Oh boy, um... food aversions, extra naps... oh boy." Sylvie sat down on the floor, her eyes wide, her breathing rapid, trying to do the math in her head. When was the last time she'd had a period?
The other women sat on the floor with her, worried about their friend. "What's going on, girl?" Stella asked.
Sylvie looked up at both of them, glancing from one to another she stuttered, "I... I think I could be pregnant."
Emily couldn't help it, her mouth dropped open slightly in surprise.
"What!?"
"I mean, I've been really tired, I just thought it was the work load but I... I can't remember when I last had a period, I mean I'm on birth control but sometimes I forget to take it."
"Like, forgot one day or forgot a week?"
Groaning, Sylvie said, "like forgot for days before Casey and I got together... once we started sleeping together... frequently, I took it almost every day?"
"Almost?"
Sylvie blushed, "I don't know. I... I just got caught up in work and being with him..." tears were forming in her eyes, and Stella wrapped her arm around her.
"Shh, it's okay. Em, you run down to the pharmacy at the end of the block and get a pregnancy test, we'll figure this out."
While Emily was gone, Stella assured Sylvie, "Its going to be okay, Casey is a great guy. He'll stand by you."
"But things are so good... and still so new. I don't want to freak him out."
"Hun, I don't think you have to worry about Casey running. He is the best guy I know."
A little bit later, they were waiting in the bathroom, the test on the sink processing. Sylvie was pacing back and forth, chewing her fingernails.
"Time's up," Emily said, looking up from her watch.
"I can't look," Sylvie said. "Stella?"
Stella walked over, glancing at the test.
"Holy shit."
