Squad 3, Truck 81, Ambulance 61. Hazmat incident at Cermack and Loomis.

Sylvie jumped into action, Mills following behind her. The drive to the scene wasn't far, and as they pulled up they could see the plumes of smoke rising into the air. Their role was support and to transport anyone who got too badly off, so they watched Matt and Kelly getting onto the roof and getting the injured men off before getting called into their own action.

"Mills, Brett! Check those people coming out of the doors," Boden yelled over, and they ran across, helping people out and checking heart rates. There wasn't much could be done till hazmat arrived, so truck and squad were helping move people away from the building. Sylvie got the last man out and into 61, and Mills drove them to Med.

The ER was even busier than normal, and a red haired doctor grabbed their patient with barely any words. Sylvie was packing the ambulance up to head back to 51 when she saw Kelly coming through the crowded area.

"Can I get a ride back with you? Had to take apart a machine around a guy's leg but I've no ride back to 51 unless I get a cab, and I'm still in my turnouts." He motioned to his filthy clothes and Sylvie smiled.

"You can hop in the back, don't worry. Help me get the gurney up? Mills is inside getting gauze for us." Kelly helped her lift up the gurney legs, pushing it into the back of the ambo. They stood there waiting for Mills as a man came by looking drunk. She ignored him, focusing on seeing her partner's head going through the ER. Without warning, the drunk guy turned around and Sylvie realised he was wearing a bomb on his chest.

"Brett, down, now!" She was pulled down and halfway under the ambo, Kelly holding her still as the shock raced over her. She lay there motionless for a moment before rolling out from under him, and staring at the scene that lay before her. There was blood pumping from Kelly's chest, and she grabbed her gauze and started packing, screaming for help. Kelly was barely breathing, so she grabbed her kit and tubed him, tears streaming down her face as she attached the ambu bag and breathed for her best friend. There wasn't much structural damage to the building itself, so when her shouts were heard people ran out to investigate.

"Kelly Severide, 35 years old. Blast trauma from an IED strapped to a man's chest, shrapnel injuries and a lot of blood lost outside. Packed his wounds with gauze before you could get out there."

"We've got it from here, thanks Brett," the doctor she'd seen earlier said, pushing her away from Kelly so they could treat him. She stared through the window for a moment, until she looked down and realised her hands were coated in her best friend's blood. Sylvie nearly retched as she ran to the bathroom to get it off her hands.

Once they were clean, she sat in the waiting room, staring at the door into the ER. The entire house was there after they'd heard what had happened, waiting for news from the docs inside. Matt sat to her left as he gripped her hand in comfort. The rest of the house wandered the waiting room, too keyed up on adrenaline to do anything except pace. It didn't take long for the red haired doctor to emerge, his face grave.

"You're with Severide?" He asked, staring at the firefighters who were present.

"Yeah. We're down as his next of kin, Matthew Casey and Sylvie Brett. What's going on?" Matt spoke for the two of them, helping Sylvie to her feet.

"The two of you can head up to the surgical waiting room, but the rest of you have to wait here. He's got a lot of shrapnel in his chest, and we've got surgeons starting to remove it. It's a slow process, and there's some near his heart that isn't making things easy. It's touch and go right now." Matt clenched his fist and Sylvie clapped her hand over her mouth to muffle her gasp. She stared straight at the doctor, begging him to give any further news.

"Come with me, I'll bring you upstairs." He turned on his heel and they followed. Sylvie heard Matt give instructions, but she was so focused on getting up there and waiting that she didn't hear anything else until they reached the elevator to take them up. The trio stood in there, ashen faced as it brought them upstairs.

"I didn't get your name, doc, sorry," Matt held out his hand which the doctor shook.

"Will Halstead. Nice to meet you Lieutenant."

"Any relation to Jay?"

The doctor smiled at Matt's words. "Yeah, he's my annoying big brother. Is Chicago that small?"

"He really helped me out before," Sylvie said quietly. "Managed to find Mills and I and get us out alive. If you're anything like him Kelly will be fine."

They reached the fifth floor, and Will brought them into the waiting area. It was small, but the chairs weren't too uncomfortable and there was a coffee machine, so it was a better place than most.

Sylvie and Matt retook their previous positions, holding hands and sitting quietly. Sylvie let up a prayer for the first time since she'd moved to Chicago. Please God just let Kelly be ok. Don't take my friend from me. Let him be ok.

She didn't know how much time had passed when she heard her name being called. Looking up, Antonio was there and she ran into his arms, feeling secure while he held her.

"'Tonio it was a bomb and I'd be dead but Kelly pushed me and covered me, I didn't know what was happening and then I heard it." Her words were quickly drowned out by her tears, and Antonio just held her closer as she cried. He manoeuvred into one of the chairs, holding her on his lap while she let it all out. After fifteen minutes she'd calmed as he ran his fingers through her dusty blonde hair.

"How did you know I was up here?" She asked, looking up at her lover's brown eyes. The full focus of his stare was on her, and Sylvie felt emotionally raw just looking at him.

"Gabby told me the two of you were allowed up here. I get Casey being here." His eyes shot over to the Lieutenant, clear loathing still in them, "but I didn't know why you were allowed up. I thought it was next of kin only." He kissed Sylvie's forehead, holding his lips to her while she spoke.

"It's a really long story that I don't want to go into right now, but I'll tell you when we're alone, ok?" It was a sign of his trust in her that he just pressed his lips more firmly to her forehead, making sure she knew he was there.

"Antonio, we've gotta go. Voight wants us out looking for the guy they think set off the initial explosion. I held him off, but we need to get back to the 21st now." Jay walked into the room, waving at the two colleagues who were there. With his words Sylvie held Antonio close for a moment, before reaching up and giving him a searing kiss.

"I'll text when I'm leaving here after we hear about Kelly. Let me know if I can go to your place, ok?" Antonio responded with a kiss, giving her a final hug goodbye. He nodded at Matt, who nodded back quietly. The two detectives left with promises to keep in touch, and Sylvie sat back beside Matt again.

"You and Antonio? You look good together," he said, smiling. It wasn't a full "Matt Casey is happy for you" smile, but it was genuine.

"Yeah. It's still pretty new, but it's good. I don't think Gabby is too impressed by it, whenever she wants to have girl talk she shuts me up nearly immediately." Matt let out a laugh at that, looking as Sylvie's face did an impression of Gabby's 'please shut up and never bring this up again' face.

They stayed quiet for another two hours, but finally a surgeon entered the room.

"Lieutenant Casey? Mrs. Severide?" She asked, approaching them.

"Ms. Brett, but yes," Sylvie replied, standing with Matt to get the news.

"Apologies, Ms. Brett. Lieutenant Severide had twenty two pieces of shrapnel in his torso, most of them entering through his chest. We needed to lengthen the incisions to get in there, but we were able to remove all twenty two pieces. He'll be out of work for at least three weeks, but we're hopeful he'll make a full recovery. I've brought him up to the recovery room, and the two of you can go see him." She held out her arm to direct them, but Sylvie hung back.

"I'll meet you there, I want to call Boden and let him know what's going on." Matt nodded at her words, and Sylvie pulled out her phone and hit the speed dial for Boden's cell.

"Boden."

"Chief, it's Brett. Kelly's out of surgery, but he's not fully out of the woods yet. They're hopeful but we have to wait till he wakes up." She filled her Chief in on everything that had happened since they'd come upstairs and what they knew about Kelly's condition.

"That's good news, Brett. I'll tell the house. We pulled in floaters to cover so when you're ready just come back here to get your bag and head home, we've had enough excitement for one day."

She hung up with his words in her mouth, and went to the recovery area. Matt was sitting on one side of Kelly's bed, a nurse standing in the corner away from him. Sylvie walked in slowly, taking in just how damaged he was.

The intubation tube she'd put in earlier had been replaced by a non rebreather mask, but he was covered in wires. His IV stand had a unit of blood being pumped into him to replace the volume he'd lost, along with saline and other medications. He was hooked up to an EKG, and the steady beat of his heart rhythm relaxed her a little. She took the empty seat and held his fingers, too nervous to risk bumping an IV.

"If you die, I'll bring you back and kill you myself, Kelly. You shouldn't have jumped in front of that for me," she murmured, a tear leaving her eye.

"Don't cry, Brett, it kills the badass image you've got going," Kelly half whispered, as she and Matt looked at him in shock. He was awake and talking.

"I'm gonna wait till you're out of bed to get properly angry with you, but I'm so glad you're awake." She grinned at him, and got a pained smile back. The nurse in the corner moved in spotting he was awake.

"I'm sorry folks, but he needs his rest and I need to tell the docs he's woken up. You need to go home, but I'll stay with him for a while. You can come back in the morning." She was professional and kind, and Sylvie smiled back at her before squeezing Kelly's fingers.

"We'll have this discussion again, Severide," she said before walking out, Matt right behind her.

"I've got the keys to Boden's buggy, c'mon and I'll give you a ride to the house and then a ride home. You could probably do with bed right now, I know I can." Matt said as they were walking through the ER on their way out.

"Sounds good. I need to check what's happening with Antonio though, if he's free I'm gonna go to his I think." Sylvie had tapped out a text to him as they walked, and within a minute had her response.

We caught the guy, I'll be at 51 in 25 minutes. My place?

"I'll take the ride to 51 anyway. He's gonna pick me up. Which means Gabby will be home alone, not that I'm saying anything about what's going on there." She responded to Antonio before getting into the passenger seat, stretching out her back against the plush seat cover. Matt got in beside her and pulled out onto the street before speaking.

"I still don't know what's happening there, but we're going with it. Antonio hates my guts for many reasons, but he's a standup cop and a good guy. You know that relationship isn't going to stay secret for long now Jay knows, right?"

"I'm pretty sure Jay already knew. We were staying quiet at the start, his divorce was final but not totally finished and I didn't want to make any waves. I don't want to meet his kids anytime soon or anything, it's casual and easy and nice." Matt let out a peal of laughter at her words.

"Sylvie, I'm going to tell you something I know from working with the Dawson siblings for so long. There's no such thing as a casual relationship when it comes to them, ever. Even what me and Gabby are doing, I know it's not casual for her. I just need to pretend it is when she wants it to be." Matt spoke from experience, and gave Sylvie something to think about for a moment before responding.

"After tonight, if he's still ok with everything that went on with Kelly and I? Then I know for sure it's not casual. But he's not Harrison, and he's a good guy, I don't mind if people start knowing."

They stayed quiet for the rest of the journey, turning up the radio on Boden's favourite country station. The man would deny it till the day he died, but the preset number one in his buggy was the country station. They pulled up, and Sylvie immediately grabbed her bag and went to the showers. She generally avoided showering at work, but needs must and she just wanted the dust and dirt off her body.

By the time she'd finished and wrapped her hair in a bun to keep it up under her hat in the freezing weather, Antonio had arrived and was standing on the app floor waiting for her. He took her duffle from her and held her hand on the way to the car, running his thumb over the back of her hand like it was a worry stone.

The drive to his apartment building was quiet, and Sylvie could feel the tension building. By the time they arrived, however, it eased and they sat on his couch, curled up with each other just enjoying their touch. She took a deep breath and sat up to look at him.

"You ok?" He asked, looking at her damp hair coming out of the bun.

"Yeah, but now I need to tell you what happened there. When I first came to 51 Kelly kept thinking I was Shay. Both of us are blonde, within an inch of each other's height according to Gabby, and we wore the same uniform. So he stayed away from me and I stayed away from him because I figured it was easier. A couple of months in, while he was struggling, he organised a Vegas trip for him and Capp. Capp pulled out last minute and he asked if I wanted to go, and some winter sun and cocktails sounded perfect. Except we got really drunk and got married there." She paused for a breath, looking at Antonio's face for any signs of dismay or distrust. He had his detective's face on, so she continued.

"We realised the next day that it was a huge mistake, and decided to annul it. The annulment came through about a month ago, but he hadn't refiled the papers in work to take me off his next of kin list and have Matt down as the sole one. So when they told me to go to the waiting room, I just did it. We might not be married, but he's a really good friend to me." Sylvie finished speaking and waited for Antonio to process what she'd said.

"So you were married, but you're not, but you're not divorced either? It just doesn't exist?" He asked, speaking slowly.

"Pretty much, yeah." She leaned back against the couch, closing her eyes for a moment. Before she could open them, Antonio had his arm wrapped around her shoulders, pulling her closer.

"I can't believe anyone managed to get him to settle down for even a drunken marriage, but of course it'd be you, Sylvie. Thanks for letting me in on the secret, I'm going to assume it's not well known?"

"It's really not," she replied, leaning in against her lover's chest.

"Well then it's nothing I'm gonna reveal," he replied, holding her tight. His phone buzzed, and he opened it up. "Most of Intelligence, as well as Roman and Burgess are down in Molly's. From the sounds of it most of your house are there as well. Want to go down?" He asked, and Sylvie leaned her head back to look up at him without changing position.

"Are we going down there as friends or more than friends?" She asked, the words escaping quickly.

"We're both adults, Sylvie. And calling you my girlfriend sounds really high school, but it feels accurate. Want me to write you a note with a tick box?" She giggled at his words, smiling while turning around.

"Well then, boyfriend, let's go and reveal it to people."

Molly's was crowded as they expected, with Herrmann passing a boot around for Kelly's recovery costs. They all knew the on the job health coverage only handled the bare essentials, so they'd make sure he could afford to live while he was paying off his medical bills. Sylvie dropped a twenty into it, with Antonio following suit. He walked up to the bar while Sylvie joined a table with Erin, Burgess and Gabby.

"How's Severide doing, Brett?" Erin asked as she sat down.

"He was awake and alert, and he knew who Matt and I were. All good signs, but we need to wait to see how he heals up, he's in pretty rough shape," she responded to the detective she didn't know too well. They'd seen each other at scenes, but she was much more familiar with Kim Burgess than anyone else.

They began chatting about how their days had been before the bombing, when Antonio arrived over with Sylvie's vodka tonic. Burgess and Erin waved at him, before staring as he reached down to kiss Sylvie in front of them.

"Detective! Didn't think you'd put the moves on in front of everyone," Burgess said, her eyebrows raised.

"I'm gonna go talk to Jay and Ruzek, ok? Let me know how you want this to happen around your coworkers," Antonio whispered in her ear, squeezing her arm before going to his colleagues.

"I knew he was seeing someone, I didn't know it was you, Brett. How long has this been going on?" Erin asked, taking a sip from her beer.

"A couple of months. We wanted to see how things worked out before announcing anything to everyone, you know what this crowd of folks are like," Sylvie took a swallow from her drink, smiling at the women at her table. "But it's good and he's sweet and I'm happy, so we're seeing how things go from here. He was at the hospital for me today."

"That's sweet," Kim said, watching as Ruzek went to the bar. He arrived at their table with a drink for her, waving at the women then leaving again.

"That was sweet," Sylvie retorted, pointing at the jack and coke he'd placed in front of her. "I'm gonna go and talk to some of the guys, Peter said he wanted to tell me something." She stood with her drink and walked over to where Mills was surrounded by firefighters.

"There's my partner! Brett, I just got word, I've been cleared to go back to Squad if there's a place!" His joy was infectious, and Sylvie made herself smile despite knowing she'd be losing her partner.

"That's such good news Mills, congrats," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck as he pulled her in for a hug. They chatted for a few moments until Antonio came up behind her, slipping his hand into the back pocket of her jeans. She curled into the motion, and it only took a minute before Mouch turned his head and saw them standing together.

"Detective, do you have something you want to tell us about our favourite paramedic in the city?" He asked, attempting to sound gruff until Trudy came over and stood beside him.

"Apart from the fact I'm dating my favourite paramedic in the city? No, not really," he said, kissing Sylvie's forehead before breaking apart for a moment. "And I don't mean you, Gabby, you're a Candidate now so don't yell at me." The group surrounding them erupted in cheers, and Otis pulled out his date planner.

"Ok, we had a good spread of dates for her and Severide, but two people said they weren't dating. They were Chief, and Cruz! You split the pot, I'll get the money to you next shift," he announced as Sylvie's face turned bright red.

"You were betting on Kelly and I dating? Really? I think he sees me like a sister," she said to Otis, who'd gone behind the bar to start serving drinks with Herrmann.

"We saw what we saw, you know. You got really close all of a sudden, he was saving you lunch. What were we supposed to expect after you were abducted?" He asked, passing her a fresh drink. "Plus, we only bet on the people we care about, Brett. If we didn't care, we wouldn't do it." She smiled at his words and took the drink.

"Thanks Otis. I still don't like it, but this just means you have to tell me when the next betting pool is happening." She finished her original vodka tonic and passed him back the glass.

"Deal."

The rest of the night passed in a blur, everyone congratulating her and Antonio. Even Matt came over and shook his hand, giving Sylvie an awkward hug to let her know there were no hard feelings. The most surprising reaction came from Voight, who came up to both of them with beers.

"The minute I saw how he looked at you, Brett, I knew he was a goner. Glad you know what the job is like, it's not easy doing this without a partner." She smiled at the gruff man, nodding in thanks. She'd heard all the rumours about him before, but he was Antonio's sergeant and she was glad he liked her. Neither of their jobs were easy or safe, and she'd quickly learned what a family your team became to you.

She was fed up of Kelly's complaints about being stuck in hospital, and was glad he could finally come home a week after he'd been blown up. Matt had offered to pick him up, but was working every day he wasn't on shift at a construction project he'd kept close to his chest. Sylvie was glad to get him back to the loft, and turned up at eleven thirty for his noon discharge.

"I can walk, don't push me in this, Sylvie," he complained, holding his chest stiffly as Sylvie pushed him through the hospital in the provided wheelchair.

"You've been here enough times to know the rules, when you're being discharged you leave in a wheelchair. As soon as we get to the front door you can stand up and walk on your own two feet, but until there you stay in the chair. You scared me enough, do this for me," she pushed him carefully, making sure to avoid any corners. He caught enough of the fear in her voice and stopped complaining until they made it out the front door. Sylvie put the brake on the chair and gave him her hand to stand with, and they made it to the car.

The drive to the loft from Med wasn't long, but Sylvie could see his energy flag as they arrived. She deposited Kelly on the couch before going to the kitchen and starting to cook lunch for them. She made extra for Matt when he got home, and placed a bowl of steaming pasta alla vodka in front of Kelly, who grinned seeing it.

"This looks so much better than hospital food, thanks Syl," he said, digging into his plate as Sylvie followed suit. She hadn't really had breakfast, and the food was really good. Matt had saved some March Madness games on the TiVo, so they watched them while eating. Kelly ended up falling asleep shortly after he ate, the excitement of the day wearing out his still healing body. Sylvie looked around the room, and decided to do the dishes from her cooking while he napped. She got everything washed and dried, and even did the coffee mugs Matt had left lying around the counters. She was pretty sure Gabby's lipstick was on one of them, but she just washed and dried and put away. By the time she finished, Kelly was still fast asleep. She wrote a note out and put it on the coffee table before covering him up with a blanket and leaving the loft quietly.