A/N: Heads up, I do not write Brett's POV here. Not enough changed from her and Mills perspective to write about it without it feeling redundant. Just imagine the protectiveness from both of them heightened slightly and everything else is basically the same. Most of the differences are in Matt and Kelly's friendships with Brett so that's where my version stays.
Anyway, happy reading! Hope you like it!
angellwings
"Where are you?
I need you,
Don't leave me here on my own.
Speak to me,
Be near me,
I can't survive unless I know you're with me."
-"Haunted" by Kelly Clarkson
The first thing Matt does once he's certain Brett and Mills have been taken is call Kelly. Severide then, in turn, tells him about the danger Baby Boden is in. Together they decide taking the house out of service is best, but that Boden should under no circumstances be brought in on Brett and Mills kidnapping. He has enough to worry about.
Matt stays with Halstead and leaves Herrmann in charge of Truck. He sends them all back to the house to meet up with Severide and get the latest information on Baby Boden.
Meanwhile, Matt loses his mind in Halstead's passenger seat as they drive away from the scene. They identified a black towncar taking Mills and Brett away from the ambo so now they're following the path it took - hoping for any sign of them anywhere.
"Jesus, I should have checked on them hours ago," Matt says with a shake of his head. "They were gone too long and I knew they were gone too long-"
"Hey," Jay says giving Matt a sideways sympathetic glance. "Don't beat yourself up about it. We both know how crazy any given day can be with our jobs. It wouldn't be unusual for them to be gone for a few hours, would it?"
"Two to three hours possibly, but five? Without checking in? That's the very definition of unusual."
"From what I've heard about Boden and the baby it sounds like you had a reason to be distracted-whoa," Jay says as he suddenly slows the car and points to a hole in a junkyard fence. "What's this?"
He pulls the car to a stop and they both get out while sharing apprehensive glances. The second they walk through the fence the black towncar comes into view, but his stomach plummets to his feet. It's been crashed into a flatbed truck with the top of it basically chopped off at the windows - like a twisted up convertible.
"Christ," he curses as he does his best to stay behind Jay while they approach the vehicle.
If there's any sort of powers-that-be controlling the universe then he hopes they've decided to be kind to Firehouse 51 today. Please do not let Brett or Mills be inside that car. An accident like that could be deadly. Once Jay gives the all clear, Matt carefully approaches the driver's side and yanks open the door.
He's both relieved and panicked all at once. No one is in the car.
The flip side of that is that no one is hanging around the crash site either which means whoever grabbed Brett and Mills still has them. They're not dead and that's the only comfort he can take from what they uncovered.
"Let me get my guys here," he suggests. "We'll get this pulled out of here so we can get a better look at it."
Jay nods. "Make it quick."
Matt calls 51. He sends Herrmann to the hospital with Boden and then requests Truck and Squad on scene. The guys are there faster than Casey imagined. When they tow the car out, Severide finds blood. One of them is hurt. It's on the driver's side so hopefully it belongs to one of the thugs who took them and not either of their paramedics.
When Jay sees that, he thinks maybe they haven't gotten too far from the crash. They're instructed to create a perimeter and search the area.
"If Lullo has them," Matt says quietly as he searches beside Severide. "Then he's had them too long. Sev, what if they're-"
He shakes his head adamantly. "No. Hell no. That's not happening, Casey."
Casey scoffs dryly as his bitterness outweighs his fear. "How can you be so sure? We don't exactly have the best goddamn luck."
"I'm sure because our luck's been rotten lately," Severide tells him. "We've had too much bad shit go down. There's no way the Universe deals us another blow so soon after-there's just no fucking way, man. I'm telling you."
Suddenly, their radios crackle to life with the sound of Stella's voice.
"Casey, we've got something."
Relief looms over him but he refuses to let it grab him just yet. "On our way," he replies.
They split up. Severide goes back to the Squad truck in case they need any of their tools for a rescue, and Matt goes to meet Kidd and Otis. Turns out, Brett left them a trail of alcohol prep pads to follow - the perfect first responder version of breadcrumbs. Once again proving that Brett is fucking brilliant and reminding him how lucky they are she ended up at 51.
They reach a rusted metal door and Jay asks them to back up. He presses his ear against it and then reaches for the handle, but the door doesn't budge. He turns to Casey urgently.
"They're inside. The door's bolted! Can you get us in?"
He nods and yells into his radio. "Severide, where are you guys?"
"On our way," he answers.
Muffled yelling can be heard from inside the building and Matt immediately recognizes Sylvie's voice. Barely a minute later, shots ring out. He counts each and every one of them and tries not to think about what they might mean or who might be hurt. After what feels like hours, but can only be seconds, Squad arrives. He and Severide attack the door with a halligan and axe, getting through the door in record time. Their motivation has never been greater.
They back away to let Jay and the other officers in first, but 51 isn't far behind them.
"Mills! Brett!" Casey yells as the two goons that took them are apprehended. The one goon was breaking down a door as they entered and Matt assumes that's where his paramedics are hiding.
"Yeah, we're here!" Mills calls as he leads Sylvie from the room.
He's got her tucked pretty securely against him so Matt can't tell if either of them are injured. "Anyone hurt?"
"No, we're okay," he replies.
Not that he doesn't trust Mills but he'd rather hear that from Sylvie. He glances from him to her and takes in the cut on her head and the blood covering her hands. She meets his eyes with a nod and a thick swallow.
"I'm okay," she repeats. "We're both okay."
The sigh of relief he releases lifts a huge weight off of not only his shoulders but his heart too. He could not have taken another blow. Not now. None of them could have.
Severide marches up to Sylvie and immediately envelopes her in a secure hug.
"Because Shay's not here to do this herself," Kelly says as he continues to hold her.
Sylvie lets out a teary laugh and embraces him just as tightly. "You can just admit you want a hug. It won't ruin your macho image. I promise."
"Jesus, you scared us," Severide tells her as he releases her and leads her out of the building.
Matt maintains his distance out of fear of what he'll do or say. He's protective and hot headed by nature and he and Sylvie have gotten pretty close. He's afraid he might tear Mills a new one even if he logically knows this situation isn't his fault or, worse, he's afraid he'll glue himself to Sylvie's side and refuse to leave her for the next few days. He needs a minute to get himself together. He helps PD clear the building before heading outside.
When he finally makes it out of the building Sylvie is sitting on the back bumper of an ambo while a paramedic cleans her cut and examines her for any additional damage. He approaches slowly and as he does he hears her let out a pained hiss. His entire body tenses at the sound. He cranes his neck to get a look and finds the paramedic bandaging a slice across the palm of her hand.
"You sure you're okay?" He asks once he's certain she's seen him. The last thing he wants is to scare her after all she's been through today.
She nods at first but then bites her bottom lip for a silent beat. Once that moment is over, she changes her answer with a wide shake of her head. "No."
They both let her answer hang between them until the paramedic is done wrapping her hand in gauze. Sylvie declines the trip to Med and stands from the back bumper. She grabs the edge of his turnout coat sleeve with her unbandaged hand and pulls him away from the Ambo for a bit of privacy.
"I really...God, Matt, I really thought we were dead. I-" she cuts off her own sentence as more tears start to fall and Matt's had enough of keeping his distance.
He pulls her into his chest - as much for his sake as hers - and holds her snuggly against him. They stay that way for a minute or two and simply listen to each other breathe. When they're satisfied with their proof of life, they back away and smile shyly at each other. It's a moment of shared relief. Sylvie's not done dealing with the events of the day, but at least now she seems more certain it's officially over.
Jay walks up to them and smiles weakly at Sylvie.
"I just talked to Mills," he tells her. "I told him you guys should feel free to go back to the Firehouse. Shower, change, do whatever you need to do to feel refreshed and focused. Once you've done that, come to the district. We'll get your statements and get you to identify these jackasses properly, okay?"
She nods. "Okay. We'll be there."
"Glad you're safe," Jay assures her before nodding in recognition at Matt and walking away.
"Come on," Matt says as he points over her shoulder to Truck 81. "We'll take you home with us."
He also ends up being her ride to the district. She takes her time cleaning up and changing clothes but when she emerges from the locker room, her hands are shaking and it's obvious she's not fit to drive herself. Mills bolted out of the house as soon as he was done getting ready. He couldn't look at Brett as he walked past her nor could she look at him. Matt's brow furrows in concern, but he doesn't say anything.
Not until the same thing happens as they're leaving the district. Mills asks her if she's okay and Brett brushes him off with a quiet, "I'm fine."
But she doesn't look at him for any longer than it takes to say those words and Mills doesn't hang around to clarify. He walks down the street to his car without another word. Casey narrows his eyes on Sylvie as she opens the passenger side door on his truck and climbs in.
He walks around and waits until he's seated with his door closed to ask her about it.
"Everything okay with you and Mills?"
Instead of answering him, she changes the subject.
"During the helicopter crash, I rescued this sketchy guy," she tells him.
He remembers the crash and he remembers worrying about her when Shay left her alone. Turns out that worry wasn't unjustified. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a business card. She hands it to him with a significant glance. The card doesn't say much. It has a first name, a phone number, and a slogan on it. The lack of information plus her description of the guy as 'sketchy' clues him in on who or what this guy might be.
"He was very clearly a criminal," Sylvie clarifies, just in case he hadn't put that together already. "I want to call him and see if he can help bring down Lullo."
After the danger she was in today he really on has one knee jerk response. "No, Brett. Hell, no. You don't know what this guy does or even if he can help."
"Then I'll call him and ask," she declares, holding her hand out expectantly. "Can I borrow your phone? Mine's on the side of the road somewhere - probably shattered to pieces."
"What did Halstead say?" Matt asks. "Maybe they just need a little more time to-"
"The guys that took us aren't talking, Casey. Lullo's gonna walk away. He almost killed Mills this time. Do you think he's gonna take a chance with almost next time? The cops can't do anything, but maybe this Gus guy can," Sylvie states with a steely edge to her voice. She gets louder and more urgent as she continues. His heart clenches and cracks every time she increases her volume. "I had a gun to my head for five hours. Five. Hours. Just...just waiting to die! I cannot let Lullo get away with that! Now, can I borrow your phone or not?"
He sighs tiredly, nods, and then hands over his phone. "Fine, but whatever meeting you set...I'm coming with you. You're not seeing this guy alone. Deal?"
She releases an anxious breath and takes the phone from him with a nod. "Deal. Thank you, Matt. Really just...thank you."