A/N: Okay, here we start 3x12 and if you go back and watch the ep, just know, my timeline won't match the episode timeline. It seems there are 48 hours between the end of 3x11 and the start of 3x12 (since Baby Boden is home) and since it's Gabby's death we're dealing with now instead of Shay's I cannot see Antonio hearing about the clippings from the unit and waiting 48 hours — or anyone in Intelligence since it directly affects one of their own.

So, my 3x12 picks up immediately after 3x11. Just FYI.

Also I've written six chapters after this one and I'm just now realizing I totally forgot to write about Christmas and I so wanted to, lol. Oh well. Just assume it happened "off screen" at some point. My bad!

Happy reading!

Angellwings

"Another hero,

Another mindless crime

Behind the curtain

In the pantomime.

Hold the line.

Does anybody want to take it anymore?"

-"The Show Must Go On" by Queen

"Sev and Casey still aren't back yet?" Shay asks with a furrowed brow as she walks into the common room.

"Nope," Sylvie answers with a frown. "Truck 81 and Squad 3 are still out."

Shay shakes her head and pulls out her phone. "Overhaul on a storage unit shouldn't take this long. I'm calling Sev."

Shay walks out of the room, leaving Sylvie alone again. Engine got back to the house about a half hour ago and they reported that Truck was essentially done with overhaul so it shouldn't have taken the others long to get back to the house at all.

Another half hour passed with no word from Shay and no reappearance of Truck and Squad. Sylvie is a few seconds away from calling Casey or Severide herself when both rigs finally pull back into the house.

Shay comes storming through the room toward the floor. She looks so enraged that Sylvie can't help but follow her. What did she find out on that phone call? Why did she go from worried to angry?

"What the hell?" Shay asks Casey and Severide as they march toward her. "So, we think the apartment building collapse started as an arson now?"

"We don't know," Matt replies stiffly. "The person who rents that unit is definitely an arsonist, but the clippings about Gabby could mean nothing."

"That would be one hell of a coincidence, Casey," Severide says with a sigh.

"I'd rather know for sure before I start hunting down a murderer," Casey mutters as he breezes past Shay and herself to head into the house.

"Intelligence is gonna look into it?" Shay asks.

"Antonio's working on it, but the unit isn't technically a crime scene so he doesn't know how far he's gonna get on it without proof of some sort of actual crime," Kelly informs her.

Sylvie is having a hard time keeping up. Everything is moving at a hundred miles per hour and she thinks she's catching on, but she'd love to have it broken down for her.

"Hold on," Sylvie says as she glances between the double doors where she last saw Matt and where Shay and Severide are currently standing. "What happened? I knew you found a lot of materials for arson, but what is this about clippings?"

"Whoever rents the unit saved articles on Gabby's death and had them stashed in the unit," Shay tells her.

"As if it were some sort of big accomplishment," Severide sneers with a shake of his head.

Sylvie bites the inside of her cheek and turns to stare at the double doors again, debating going after Matt. She sighs and decides against it. This is huge news, and something he may want to process alone.

"God, poor Casey," Sylvie says worriedly. "To have all of this brought up again after so long…"

"It's tough. That's for sure," Severide agrees. "But if this is what I think it is, it might be the closure all of us need."

"It better lead to something positive," Shay mutters angrily. "If it is what you think it is then you better fucking find this guy. He murdered my best friend. There's no way in hell this asshole gets to be free while she's gone."

"If we don't find him then Antonio will, Shay," Kelly assures her. "You can be certain of that."

A few hours later, a detective with the CPD comes by, she recognizes him as Antonio Dawson from a few pictures hanging up in Molly's. He heads straight to the bunkroom, she assumes, to find Casey and Severide.

Ten minutes later, Casey and Severide follow Antonio toward the apparatus floor.

"Herrmann," Casey says as he stops in the common room. "I'm going for a ride. You're acting Lieutenant while I'm gone."

Herrmann nods. "Got it under control, Lieutenant. Do what you gotta do."

Shay follows after them and when she comes back her eyes are red rimmed and shiny. She doesn't stop in the common room. She walks straight back to the bunkroom. Sylvie exchanges a concerned glance with Herrmann and then follows Leslie.

She's not in her bunk so Sylvie heads for the locker room. There's no sign of her right away, but after a moment Sylvie hears hushed sobs. She follows the sound until it leads her to one of the shower stalls.

"Shay?" She asks through the closed curtain.

"I'm fine," she lies in a voice clogged with tears.

Sylvie slowly opens the shower curtain to find her partner curled up in the corner of the tiled shower. Her knees are pulled to her chest with her forehead resting on her knees. Sylvie doesn't bother pointing out that Shay is clearly not fine. There's no need for that. They both know she lied. Sylvie's eyes water with empathetic tears and she sits down next to her. She puts an arm around Leslie's shoulders and pulls her close. Shay doesn't fight her. In fact, she leans into it and rests her head on Brett's shoulder.

"They're going back to the building where she died," Shay admits in a broken voice. "To look for any signs of arson."

"Maybe they won't find anything," Sylvie says hopefully.

"No, they will," Shay replies with certainty. "Something about that fire and collapse always felt wrong. I can feel it in my bones. Gabby was murdered."

The tears begin again and Sylvie wraps Leslie up in a tight hug. There's nothing she can say to make this any easier. For any of them. She can't imagine what Kelly and Matt must be feeling having to revisit the scene - or Antonio for that matter even if she doesn't know him at all.

She hates that they're having to go through this. They were just starting to put this all behind them and to have it brought back up like this is cruel beyond measure. The son of a bitch who did this better go down. He's hurting her friends and Sylvie can't let that happen.

The burn pattern isn't in the right place. The squatter's fire was closer to the corner and the origin point of the fire was several feet from it. It doesn't guarantee arson but it's certainly enough to alert OFI. Severide is going to get in touch with someone he knows over there and see where they go from here. It could be nothing, but it could also be everything.

It's been an exhausting and emotional day and shift isn't anywhere near over yet. Boden is still at the hospital with Donna and the baby, he's still the most senior officer on shift, and now he has to deal with this and all the emotions that go along with it.

Going back to that building wrecked him. That was the last place he saw Gabby alive and the first place he saw her dead. It reopened every wound he'd started to heal and rubbed salt all over them. It stung like a bitch.

He's back in his quarters trying to fill out incident reports but all he can think about is that scene and the clippings. One thing on it's own wouldn't stick out to him, but both of them together? It's too much of a coincidence. There's a knock on his open door and he looks up to find Sylvie pointing a sad smile at him.

"Do you mind if Stella covers for Shay on 61?" Brett asks with a worried furrow of her brow.

He shakes his head at her. "No, that's fine. Is Shay alright?"

"She's...emotional and not in the best place to focus on the job, but I think she's as good as can be expected," Sylvie replies honestly. "What about you? How are you?"

"I'm trying not to think about it until we speak to OFI," he admits, rolling his neck and stretching out his arms. He's feeling restless and anxious. The stretching somehow helps.

She nods slowly with a sympathetic expression. "That sounds very...pragmatic."

"There's still a chance it isn't arson," he tells her. He knows he sounds like he's trying to convince himself and he also knows it isn't working. "Until I have something definitive, I'm determined to keep it together."

Kelly appears in the doorway just over Brett's shoulder. Sylvie faces him with a soft smile and a consoling squeeze of Severide's arm.

"I should get back to Shay," Sylvie tells them. "Thanks for letting me borrow Kidd."

"Tell Shay to go home and rest for me, will you?" Kelly asks with a worried sigh. "It's okay for her to take the time she needs to deal with this."

"Don't worry," Brett tells him with a determined gleam in her eye. "I'm already on it." She turns to go but stops and focuses that determination on the two of them. "I'm prepared to do the same for the both of you if I have to. Just so you know."

Even with the messy emotions that are threatening to overwhelm him, he can't help but give her half of a fond smile. "Consider us warned."

Brett leaves and Severide gives him an urgent look. "We have a meeting with Cunningham at OFI after shift. Hopefully she can get us a look at the case files."

"I'll be there," Matt promises.

"We're gonna figure this out, Case. Even if it's just to rule it out," Kelly declares, a look of certainty in his eyes.

Matt wishes he was as confident as him. He doesn't want Gabby's death to be a result of arson, but if it is...arson is damn hard to prove. Justice might be allusive. He doesn't want to get his hopes up for nothing.