By the time Casey dropped Sylvie off back at her car after lunch it was almost mid-afternoon. When he entered the loft, Kidd and Severide were playing with the newly acquired Hoops arcade.

"Hey man, where have you been?" his friend asked. "You never made it home after shift."

Stella gave her boyfriend a playful shove. "Yeah. Kelly here was looking for back-up 'cause I'm kicking his ass!"

"I had an appointment at Med. With a neurologist."

Time to come clean. Matt briefly explained the situation and assured them that everything was fine.

"Doc says my symptoms were just due to the concussion and the CT doesn't show any sign of lasting damage. He gave me the all-clear."

"That's lucky." Severide said. "You should have told me, I would have come with you."

"It's fine. Brett came."

"Oh! That explains why…" Stella started without thinking, then stopped suddenly.

"Explains what?" Matt asked.

Stella looked uncomfortable. She doubted Sylvie had told the Captain about Grainger.

"Stella…?" he insisted

Too late to back out. She'd said too much already. There was no chance Casey was going to let it go.

"Sylvie was supposed to spend the weekend with Grainger. I knew she cancelled but she didn't tell me why." She paused for a second before she added. "They broke up."

Casey stood there, shocked. She hadn't said a word the whole time they were together. Of course not. This was Brett after all. As usual, she had been looking out for someone else and putting her own needs last. And once more, he was responsible for Sylvie's heartbreak.

"You okay?" Severide's voice brought him back to reality.

"Yeah. I… I didn't know. When did that happen?"

"A couple days ago I think. She told me last shift."

"It's all my fault. I got the feeling she had something planned but she told me she could reschedule it. I shouldn't have let her."

"I doubt there's anything you could have said or done to change her mind." Stella stated.

" I suppose not. She's always there for everyone."

"Especially you." Stella rolled her eyes at Matt's startled reaction. Good God, Men could be so clueless!. "Oh come on, Casey! Do you really think no one noticed how close you and Brett are?"

He threw an accusatory glance at Severide who put his hands up in defense. "I didn't say a thing!"

"He didn't have to. You two have been dancing around each other for months now. A blind man could see you have feelings for her and it's mutual. Yes, it's that obvious. Geez, Herrmann and Mouch have a poll going on how long it'll take to come to your senses."

"It's more complicated than that."

"Is it really? Maybe it's high time the two of you talk it through. Lay it all down, plain and simple."

Could Stella be right? He had already messed up so many times by not saying what was on his mind. He'd told himself to back off since she was with Grainger but apparently that was over now. He wanted to wait for the perfect time but it hadn't really worked so far, had it? The one thing he was sure of was that he loved her. Maybe that was enough.

He suddenly started towards the front door but stopped dead in his tracks before opening it, turned around and made a dash to his room. Less than a minute later, he reappeared and exited the loft, front door slamming behind him.

"Do you think it worked?" Stella asked.

"Looks that way to me."

"Good. I should call Herrmann and give him a heads up. Looks like I'm 'bout to make a hundred bucks!"