A/N: Okay, today is the first day I'm starting my writing schedule and for today I have "reply to comments and post new chapter" so even though I posted last night, I'm posting AGAIN today. ;)
I'm sorry if you guys feel this story isn't very exciting right now. Bringing Matt closure and building Matt and Sylvie friendship is vital toward getting them closer to each other in a romantic sense. That's going to take some time. That being said, things should start picking up speed fairly soon. When I say "soon" I mean it in the show runner sense of the word, ominous and vague.
Happy reading! I really loved putting a new spin on this episode, by the way. I hope you guys enjoy what I did! The next chap will wrap it up and we'll be on to the next plot.
XOXO
"If you're ever in a jam, here I am.
If you're ever in a mess, S.O.S.
If you're so happy, you land in jail. I'm your bail.
It's friendship, friendship, just a perfect blendship.
When other friendships are soon forgot, ours will still be hot."
-"Friendship" by Cole Porter
It's fucking freezing outside.
Excuse her language but that's the only appropriate descriptor.
It gets cold in Fowlerton, but this is an entirely new level of cold.
She walks into the Firehouse and finds Capp underneath the Ambo. Leslie sighs and shrugs.
"It wouldn't start and fleet management is swamped so we get Capp."
"The day is already off to a stellar start," Sylvie replies with an eyeroll and a dry chuckle.
Roll Call is basically a briefing on how they should work in below freezing temperatures. Truck goes off to load 81 and salt the drive and the sidewalk. She and Leslie are just settling in with cups of coffee when Matt runs in, a sense of urgency following him into the room.
"Brett, Shay, we got a situation."
He nods toward the bunks and they both follow dutifully.
Leslie's eyes light up at the sight of the tiny pink baby on Stella's bunk.
"Oh god, would you look at her!" Leslie gushes with a wide smile. "Where'd this little lady come from?"
"Found her on the apron," Kidd says as she tucks the blanket tighter around the infant. Her eyes narrow slightly, contradicting her grin, on a cardboard box.
"Outside? In this weather?" Sylvie asks in concern, stopping in her tracks. "We should check her vitals. I'll be right back."
She grabs the jump bag from the rig and when she gets back, Shay has completely taken over caring for the baby. Stella looks more amused than put out while Matt gives Leslie a knowing smile. Sylvie gets the sense that there's some sort of history here. Something Shay hasn't let her in on yet.
"Okay, little munchkin," Sylvie says as she sits down next to Shay. "Let's see how you're doing." She rubs the baby's tiny hands before digging out the stethoscope. "She's warming up," Brett declares after she listens to her heartbeat. "Heart rate's stable."
"No signs of frostbite," Leslie states and she feathers a finger across the baby's cheek.
"Alright, let's bring her over to Chicago Med. I'll call DCFS," Chief orders.
"Uh, that might be a problem," Shay tells him with a grimace. "The Ambo's down for the count."
All eyes turn to Capp.
"I'm making some headway," he says defensively.
"Hurry," Boden says with narrowed eyes. He tosses his keys to Mouch. "In the meantime, I have diapers and formula and wipes in the trunk of my car. Bring those in."
"On it," Mouch answers, already making his way out the door. Capp follows him to start working on the ambulance again.
Leslie lifts the baby off the cot and pulls a rubbery face. "Shew, Mouch better hurry. Our tiny guest smells a little ripe."
"Poor thing," Sylvie says sympathetically. "I can't believe someone left her all alone in the cold."
"Me either, but we've got her now," Stella says as she leans across the cot to look at the baby's tiny face. "We'll keep her both safe and warm until that ambulance is up and running."
The guys slowly trickle out of the room now that the excitement is over and the real responsibilities are beginning.
Leslie cradles the baby close to her chest and then looks up to glance between Stella and Sylvie. Her smile is sheepish as she speaks. "Severide and I almost had a baby together once. I was determined to be a mom."
She and Kidd share a surprised glance.
"Severide was gonna be your sperm bank?" Stella asks with an amused grin. "Oddly enough, I could see him as a dad. I can't see him committing to one woman and only one woman but I can see him as a dad."
"Neither one of us really wanted a serious relationship," Shay tells them. "But we both wanted to be parents and since he's my person and all...it made sense."
"So, what happened?" Sylvie asks. "Why isn't there a tiny little Shayveride baby waddling around the firehouse?"
She shakes her head and sighs. "It got too hard. Too messy. It put too much of a strain on our friendship so I decided to find another way but another way never happened and eventually I...well, I stopped trying. The dream is still there but it just feels far away. You know?"
"Maybe it's time to pick it back up again," Stella suggests. "If anyone deserves to be a mom, it's you. You already act like one with us."
Sylvie laughs and nods her agreement. "You are for sure the mom friend. A hundred percent." She hesitates a moment before injecting her own personal experience into the discussion. Maybe it's not something Shay wants to hear and maybe it's oversharing but Sylvie adores these two women and wants to encourage them however she can. "Are you...are you set on carrying the baby yourself? I mean, there's always adoption. It, um, worked out for me and my parents."
The two women blink at her for a long quiet moment. Finally, Shay breaks the silence.
"You were adopted?"
She nods and swallows thickly. She's not embarrassed by it but thinking about the path her life could have taken makes her emotional. Her parents chose to love her unconditionally, and they're great at it.
"I was just a baby when they adopted me so I never knew my birth parents, but I grew up with the kindest and most selfless parents ever. I can't complain. I know how lucky I am. Things could have gone very differently for me if not for them. They saved me. You-you could do that too. I mean, if you wanted to. There's more than one way to have a family."
Leslie's sheepish smile softens and her eyes find Sylvie's with a grateful expression. "You're right. There's definitely more than one way to have a family. Maybe I gave up too soon."
"It's never too late to try again," Kidd reminds her with a consoling squeeze of her arm just before Mouch comes back with the supplies.
The conversation is over for now. Mouch returning reminds them that they're in more or less a public space. Shay may not want to talk about this particular topic around the men of 51.
"Right now," Shay says as she turns her attention to the baby again. "I think I'll focus all my motherly affection on this little one."
After a half hour of waiting on Capp to finish with the rig, Sylvie goes out to check on him. Matt and Stella follow her.
Severide's busy with Cunningham so Matt's been doing his best to keep an eye on Shay for him. He knows the basics of her dream of becoming a mother. He can relate more than he cares to admit. He's wanted a family of his own since his parents' marriage went down in flames. Shay is in the common room with Otis and the baby. She's a natural mother. Casey hopes it eventually works out for her. She deserves that.
"Have you tried turning the key really slowly?" Sylvie asks as she hops up in the driver's seat. "I know when a bad cold front comes through Fowlerton sometimes-"
"I have taken this engine apart and put it back together," Capp says, cutting her off in frustration. "A simple flip of a switch isn't going to-"
Sylvie demonstrates her theory. This time the engine turns over and the Ambo starts.
"What the fu-"
Sylvie stands half out of the driver's side of the cab and wags a finger at Capp to stop his curse. "Uh uh! I told you! There is a child in the house! If you wanna curse, take it outside!"
Her smug grin is almost too much for Matt to take. He chuckles and turns to Kidd.
"Get some extra blankets," he orders. "Let's get this baby to Med."
Stella nods and manages one step before 61's radio crackles to life.
"Go for 61," Sylvie says. The radio continues to be scrambled with interference. "With 911 down, the channels are probably overloaded." She bites her bottom lip as they all listen, finally making out the words through the static, and looks at Matt with a question in her eyes. "It's chest pains. Diversey and Kenton. Should be quick and easy."
He thinks for a beat and then nods. "Okay. Hit it. Take Kidd with you. I'd feel better if we kept a medic here for the baby."
Sylvie flashes him a soft smile. "And maybe because Shay's gotten a bit attached?"
Her eyes are too knowing for his comfort. "You wanna try and separate her from that kid, right now?" He asks with a teasing grin.
"Definitely not," Stella agrees. "I'll ride along."
"Copy, Main," Sylvie says into the radio. "61 on our way!"
Kidd and Brett pull out of the house and nearly run over a civilian trying to find her way inside.
"Excuse me. Excuse me. Do you work here?" The woman asks as she approaches him.
"Yeah, everything alright?" He asks in concern.
"No. No, it's not," she says. "I think you have my baby and I want her back."
Well, shit. It turns out her name is Toni Jessup and she's claiming the baby, apparently named Grace, is hers. Matt leads her inside to Boden and Shay. She says her deadbeat ex took the baby from her and dropped Grace off here this morning to get back at her. None of them are entirely sure they buy her story. Shay asks a few questions about what the baby was wrapped in and what she was wearing. Toni gets them all correct. That works in her favor, but they still can't release the baby to her without DCFS approving it.
Boden tells her as much and she's visibly upset.
"My best advice is that you come back with some proper documentation and we'll go from there," Boden states firmly.
"Okay," she agrees with a huff. "I'll be back later then."
She leaves and Matt takes it upon himself to call DCFS with an update. He catches up with Shay in the bunkroom later.
"How's Grace?" He asks.
"Good. Really good," Shay says as she points a besotted smile at the baby. She rocks her gently while she continues talking to him. "What did DCFS say?"
"They're tied up. 911 being down has basically brought everything to a stand still," he says with a sigh.
"This may be awful to say," Leslie says as she leans toward him with a conspiring smirk. "But I'm happy to hear that. It means I get to spend more time with this one." She makes a silly yet endearing face at the baby in her arms and Matt chuckles at her.
"You're good with her," he tells her.
"Thanks," Shay says as she scoots over on the cot. "Sit. You can hold her."
"Oh, no, I couldn't-"
"You can and you will," she insists. "Sit."
She carefully hands Grace over to him, making sure to point out that he needs to cradle her head. He knows all of that. He remembers holding Violet when she was this small. It seems like a long time ago, but he remembers.
"I forgot how much I really wanted to be a mom," Leslie confesses quietly. "Or maybe I forced myself to forget. It's hard to tell which. So much happened last year that it was easy to let certain dreams slip away. And then with everything with Gabby…"
He nods. "Yeah, trust me, I know. That threw us all off our axis. But, I don't know about you, it feels like things might be leveling out again." He takes a deep breath after he says it and waits for the guilt or for a relapse of intense grief. But it never comes.
The grief is still there. It's just quieter than it used to be.
Leslie gives him a small smile. "You're right. I feel that too. Gabby wouldn't want us to be stuck in the past forever. She'd want us to be happy - to fulfill our dreams. We can do that and still remember her. Hell, we can remember her by doing that. Moving forward, doesn't mean we have to forget."
He'd never thought about it like that. He should have because it seems simple, but when you're twisted up with grief the simple things never occur to you. It's possible to do both. It's possible to move forward and remember Gabby. He doesn't have to choose one over the other.
"That applies to you too, you know," Shay says as she bumps his shoulder playfully. "No rush, but she wouldn't want you to be a hermit for the rest of your life."
He laughs and nods his agreement. "I know that. I'm just trying to find my equilibrium again. I think my feet should be on steady ground before I put myself back out there, you know?"
"Yeah, I do," she replies. "Well, whenever you're ready, it'll be okay. You deserve to be happy, Matt."
His brows raise and he smirks at her. "Did you just call me Matt? You never call me Matt."
"It felt like a Matt moment," she says with a light laugh. "Screw you. See if I'm vulnerable with you ever again, jackass."
"Hey, I wasn't complaining. I never said I minded," he tells her with a reassuring grin.