A/N: A quick update for my new friend, Andrea on Ao3.

Happy reading!

angellwings

"Hands, put your empty hands in mine,

And scars—show me all the scars you hide,

And hey, if your wings are broken,

Please take mine so yours can open, too,

'Cause I'm gonna stand by you."

-"Stand By You" by Rachel Platten

They had to go back to the scene again. The good news is that it wasn't quite as heart wrenching this time. He's faced his grief more in the last twenty four hours than he has in the last 3 months combined. He thinks it'll be good in the long run. For him, anyway. Antonio is a pissed off mess. He tagged along to the meeting with Cunningham. He treated her like a hostile witness. It was rude as hell but it got results.

Cunningham snuck them the file in less than an hour. Sure, it was photographed documents on a flash drive but it was better than nothing. It was more than CPD could get. The name, address, and date of birth the storage unit was rented under are all bogus. Antonio insisted on going over the files at the district which Casey hated because it meant facing Voight in addition to reliving the day he lost Gabby. But Antonio was a dog with a bone and there was no talking him out of it.

Severide flagged multiple mentions of shredded newspaper in the file which was possible evidence of a 'trailer.' Their hypothetical arsonists could have used it to spread the fire to flammable materials that were already in the building. It's a smart way to hide arson. That's what led them back to the scene. With Antonio on their tail this time.

Matt understands that this is Antonio's sister. Hell, if this was about Christie, God forbid, he'd be just as annoying. But Antonio's attitude is wearing on Casey's nerves. He lost someone too. Shay lost someone. Severide lost someone. All of 51 lost someone. They're just as committed to finding out what happened as he is, but Antonio is acting as if he's the only person that cares.

Things between himself and Antonio have been tense since Gabby died. He suspects Antonio never liked him much in the first place and his grief magnified that dislike to a whole new level. But he doubts he'll ever know for sure. Or maybe Antonio blames him for Gabby's death somehow. If there's a way for Matt to blame himself he usually finds it, but he knows with certainty that Gabby's death isn't on him so he has no idea what blame Antonio could place on him. Grieving people can always find something, though. At least, in his experience.

They combed over every inch of the scene until Severide finally found something. It was a staple attached to the remains of a matchbook. After enough years on the job, you start to recognize the tricks of the arsonist's trade. He may not be as good of an investigator as Severide, but even he knows what that is.

Bailing wire would have held a cigarette in place until it burned down and lit all the matches. It was a fuse. Likely the fuse that started the fire and led to the explosion. They could now confirm arson. Which also meant…

Gabriella Dawson was murdered, and now they needed to catch her killer.

They immediately bagged it and took it to Cunningham. She had some concerns with how they collected it, but it was enough to convince her to investigate herself.

And now they have to wait.

Something Casey has to work very hard at being good at it in the best of circumstances.

Antonio is chomping at the bit and both Matt and Kelly can tell he's going to bug the shit out of Cunningham until they hear back from her. They tried to talk him into coming over to their place for a couple of beers. If anyone needs to unwind it's him, but he turns them down saying he has a stack of case files that he put on the backburner so he could investigate with them. He's going to the precinct to work on those.

Fine with Casey. He's had just about enough of Antonio for one day.

It's around dinnertime by the time they finally arrive back at the apartment. They'd been discussing the possibility of ordering in, but all of that is forgotten the minute they open their door.

There's a heavenly aroma of food wafting toward them and it's only after the smell hits them that they see Mills and Brett in their kitchen, cooking up a storm.

"Hey!" Kidd greets from the living room. "You're home."

Shay looks up and crosses the room to them, her arms folded over her chest. "So? What happened?"

He and Kelly trade a look and Matt silently agrees to let him handle the explanation. Matt moves through the room, toward the kitchen and the fridge, while everyone listens to Kelly recount the day. Before he can reach for the door, Brett opens it for him and hands him a cool tall bottle. He's stunned for a moment because that's exactly what he wanted. She anticipated his needs and he has no idea how. Does she really pay that much attention?

"Thanks," he mutters as he twists the cap off and takes a long sip.

She nods and then turns her attention back to Kelly.

"And now we wait," Kelly says as he finishes the story. "Hopefully Cunningham calls us sooner rather than later."

"Or else Antonio may send Voight after her," Matt mutters bitterly.

Severide scoffs and nods. "Yeah, that guy is losing it. Not that I blame him, but he really needs to tone it down. Cunningham won't take his attitude for too much longer."

"He was enough of a hothead before the divorce and losing Gabby," Shay adds thoughtfully. "I can't imagine what he's like now."

"You'll see it soon enough, I'm sure," Kelly warns her. "So, what am I smelling? Because it's sure as hell not Shay's cooking."

"Oh, shut up. Like you're any better than me? Unless it's a grill you can't handle it. We all know it," Shay replies with an eye roll.

"Pete made dinner," Sylvie says with a proud smile as she skims a hand across his back.

"Thought you guys might be too tired to cook and too late to order anything," Mills states with a modest shrug. "It's just Mexican Lasagna. Easy to cook and reheat if there's leftovers. It's all done so dig in."

They get plates and spread out across the apartment. Sylvie ends up sitting next to Matt at the kitchen counter while everyone else has spread out across the dining and living rooms.

"So," Sylvie says with a concerned glance. "Be honest, how are you holding up?"

"Better than I expected," he admits. "I'm pissed. I want this guy to go down hard and fast — whoever he is. I'm frustrated that we have to wait, annoyed with Antonio, and…" He lets his sentence trail off before he drops his tone for a bit more privacy. He doesn't mind talking to Sylvie about this. She's seen him at his worst and didn't judge. But he wouldn't want what he says next to go further than her, Severide, and Shay. "The scene really tore me up. I never planned to go back there once let alone twice. Seeing it again, brought a lot of things back that I didn't deal well with the first time around. It sort of feels like a chance to get closure the healthy way. I don't know if any of that makes sense, but it's how it feels."

Sylvie nods and then reaches over to squeeze his hand consolingly. "It makes sense. I hate that you're going through this but I'm glad you're dealing with it. If you ever need someone to listen or to help with that, you know you can call me, right?"

He nods and squeezes her hand in return. "Yeah, I do. Thanks, Sylvie."

She releases his hand with a soft smile. "Good. I don't want you to think you have to wait on the Chaplain to talk."

Surprisingly, he doesn't feel that way. He hasn't felt that way in a while. Longer than he initially realized. Sylvie wormed her way into his inner circle of trust much quicker than any friend he'd had before. It makes sense to him. She's bright and joyful. She makes him laugh, which has been rare in his life for far too long now. So, of course, she would simply waltz through a few of his well built walls. He's never been able to fight off hope before. That wasn't going to change now.

"I don't think that," he promises. "Thanks to you."

She blushes lightly and chuckles at him. "I hope that's a good thank you and not a sarcastic thank you. I don't mean to pester you about it."

He snorts in amusement as he tries to reassure her. "It's good."

She nods and bumps his shoulder playfully. "Happy to help. It's what we do, remember?"

She's recalling a previous conversation when he assured her that sometimes their job goes beyond the call. He meant that. "I remember."

They haven't known each other long, but he's immensely grateful he doesn't have to go through this without her.