Chapter 5

Spending the day at the firehouse did make the day go faster Kim thought gratefully. She wasn't stuck at home waiting for Jay and wishing she was able to work. Her brownies had been a big hit, she would have to remember this recipe for the Police Auxiliary Fundraiser.

Currently she was sitting across from Matt on the couch in the living room set up of the firehouse with the scrabble board between them. She tucked her feet underneath her as she sat up trying to come up with a word with the letters LAIGNMP. She moved them back and forth on her tray until she came up with a word ALIGN. She didn't care about the score, she was impressed that she made a word. And so it went for about an hour until she was tired of using energy to focus on the board and letters and making words.

They sat and talked about Jay and Sylvie, about their brains, about their jobs, about trauma, about their families. She was really getting to know Matt Casey and she really liked him as a person and a friend, and as Sylvie's best friend, someone Sylvie should date. She would have to work on her.

"Remember yesterday we were talking about raising money for the therapy center?" Matt reminded Kim as they moved onto Scattergories. "Sure, what are you thinking?" Kim asked as she was counting up her points.

"Brain Camp t-shirts." Matt said, taking their fun nickname and creating a positive slogan for the program that does so much amazing work for its patients. More money would help more patients. "If we create a logo, I've got a buddy of mine who makes t-shirts." He stated hopefully.

"This would be amazing!" Kim agreed easily. Programs like the one they were in, would get people back to their jobs, to their lives. And that was priceless.

As firefighters came in and out throughout the day, she was entertained by their antics during downtime and how quickly they switched into serious mode when a call came in. It was a good balance she thought, much better than a police officer.

Matt made sure she was only sleeping and not unconscious and covered her with a blanket and tried to let her rest. She had been asleep for slightly over an hour when he got a call from Jay Halstead.

"Hey Jay." Matt answered his phone

"I tried calling Kim and she didn't answer. Is she still at the firehouse?" he asked casually but not too casually. He took a deep breath to keep himself from freaking out for no reason just because she didn't answer her phone.

'Yeah, she's still in the living room, she fell asleep after playing scrabble about an hour ago." Matt replied matter of factly.

"Ok, I'm going to swing by then and pick her up in about 20 minutes." Jay informed the fire captain.

"Not a problem." Matt answered. "Hey Sleeping Beauty, Prince Charming is on his way to pick you up." He teased her as she woke up from a nap. Kim stretched,feeling refreshed.

"Hey Halstead!" A bunch of the guys shouted at once as the tall, dark Intelligence detective walked through the firehouse bays into the kitchen. He shook hands with some of his buddies, "Hey Cruz., Hermann."

"Bye Kim!" The same guys shouted, having enjoyed her company for the afternoon, especially Matt who hadn't been able to go out on the call. "Thanks for the brownies!" Jay noticed that they were all happy just to be near Kim Burgess. It shouldn't come as a big surprise, she had a way of bringing out the best in people.

It was so easy to be charmed by Kim Burgess. He could sit there and watch her interact with people all day, the way she asks Hermann about his kids, if Casey had any new recipes, how Donna's class was this year, and how far along Chloe is now and if Cruz is nervous, she knows all the new fire fighters names like Gallo and Ritter, even Violet; Sylvie's new partner.. She was a special one, he thought. He wasn't planning on being the idiot that let her get away.

What did surprise him though was the fact that she hadn't gotten married yet, the closest being engaged to Ruzek, a few years back. It was a pattern that he intended to break, and it didn't scare him in the least that they had only been dating for a few short months. They had talked about marriage and parenthood and all other taboo dating topics, he's met Nicole and Zoe and Kim obviously knows Will.

She laughed, she enjoyed not being alone. "Thanks guys. Have a good night. Bye Matt, see you tomorrow." She said, giving him a quick hug. He was just as thankful as she was that they had become friends.

"Be warned, I think the guys are trying to convince Burgess to become a firefighter." Casey laughed at how protective they were of her, but also in awe of how bad-ass she was.

"Is that why they call her Kim now?" Jay joked, noticing that subtle change from calling her by her last name.

She reached out for Jay's hand and was swinging it as they walked to his truck.

"You're in a good mood." He noted with a smile. "Yeah, that was a good day. And now I get to spend time with you."

She pulled him in for a kiss. It started out as a sweet kiss but soon turned urgent and filled with passion. The scent of her lip gloss sending him over the edge. "C'mon, before they spray us with their fire hoses." He teased her lightly, giving her one last flirty kiss.

"You wanna stop at the diner and grab dinner and then do some Brain Camp games at home?" Jay suggested. "That sounds perfect." Kim sighed as she leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes.

They pulled into the parking lot of the Diner and called in their order. He didn't want to share her with anyone else tonight.

"I'll have a ….

When Kim went to answer, Jay whispered her order at the same time exactly as she ordered it. , "Disco fries and a chocolate milkshake." Kim's heart was no longer hers anymore. It belonged fully, completely, and totally to her partner and boyfriend. She squeezed the hand that he liked to keep on her left thigh to let her know that he was there. He squeezed back. "A medium-well burger with fries, and a coke." Jay added.

"How was therapy and the firehouse?" He asked her as they enjoyed their meal from the diner that neither of them had to cook and was easy to clean up. Kim savored the taste of the chocolate shake before answering. "Therapy is good, it's strange to think that I'm trying to tell my brain what to do. It's not instinct yet." She admitted, frustrated, Jay reached out to grab her hand.

She continued, "the firehouse was great. It's so upbeat and fun and then it's go time and it's serious. Whereas in Intelligence, it's almost always serious, it's hard to decompress sometimes." Jay hadn't thought about it but he had to agree with her assessment.

"But we don't sleep there at work either, can you imagine?" She shuddered explaining the layout to Jay. He laughed, imaging all of them tucked into beds at night with Voight just a few feet away.

"Okay here are the rules for scrabble. You get double points for swear words or naughty words. Once you get three swear words or naughty words you win a dare that the other player has to do." Kim explained the new rules with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Babe, you can go first." She graciously allowed, excited to see what he would put down.

"And how about any non swear word or naughty word you have to take a drink" He added a rule to the game. She laughed but agreed nonetheless.

Jay put down the first word Naked across the middle of the board, and picked up 5 more letters.Meanwhile, Kim looked at her board. Feeling confident she wrote the word Sexual going down the word Naked on the A and picked up six more tiles. The Game was on.

It wasn't too much later when both Jay and Kim were in their underwear, on their second beer and the next word would probably push them into the bedroom and off the couch.

Jay played his last four tiles, and Kim took off running for the bedroom laughing. He caught up to her easily, not that she would try too hard to avoid him, and wrapped his strong arms around her while kissing her until she succumbed to his charms.