Authors Note: Firstly, thanks for reading. This is the first story I've written for Chicago Fire so some feedback would be appreciated. Secondly, I'll admit I'm a bit late to the part on this one, I've not long ago started watching so I'm only up to the second season. For this reason, I apologise if this doesn't fit with anything that happens in later seasons. I may well come back and edit this a bit as I catch up.

Chapter One

Casey was talking to him, he was vaguely aware of the words in the background, but Kelly would be lying if he said he was paying attention. He hadn't heard a word Matt had said. His attention had been rather diverted by the woman who'd just walked into the bar and sat down a couple of stools down from Matt.

"Kelly!" Matt jabbed at his shoulder.

"What?" He tore his eyes away from her and looked at his friend. "I was listening, I promise."

Matt just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I bet you were." He twisted in his seat to try and work out what had captured his friend's attention. His eyes quickly followed his friends gaze and landed on the brunette sat the bar. "Of course." He sighed.

Kelly waved at Gabby and she quickly brought him another beer. Matt rolled his eyes at her as Kelly slid off the barstool. "I'll talk to you about this later Casey?" He said although they both knew he wasn't really asking.

"Fine." Matt groaned. There was no point trying to talk to his friend when he'd got his eye and mind on something else. This was exactly where that infamous Severide reputation has come from.

"Where's he off too?" Gabby asked.

"Where do you think?" Matt raised an eyebrow at her as Kelly slid onto the empty stool next to the woman.

"Ah... of course." Gabby nodded. "So much for him keeping you company for the night then?"

"Yeah." Matt sighed. "I don't think I'll be welcome over there." He laughed.

She nodded in agreement. "I'll ask Herman if I can leave a bit earlier tonight." She disappeared back down to the other end of the bar; leaving Matt to finish his drink, watching as his friend deployed the infamous Kelly Severide charm.

"Can I buy you a drink?" Kelly asked, sliding into the seat next to her.

She turned to face him, a smile crossing her face as her hazel eyes locked with his for a moment. "I don't know... can you?"

"I'm Kelly." He smiled. "Kelly Severide."

"Amber." She replied, taking a mouthful of her wine.

"I've not seen you in here before?"

"You some sort of detective or something?" She asked, draining the rest of her wine glass.

"Fireman." He told her proudly. "What do you do?"

She hesitated for a moment, a slow smile spreading across her face. "I'll tell you what... if you can guess, I'll buy you a drink."

He grinned back at her. "Okay then..." he studied her face closely for a moment, as though it might give him some kind of a clue. Her cheeks flushed as his eyes slowly worked their way down, taking in her slightly dishevelled hair, the slight bump of her nose and lingering on her lips for a moment longer than necessary. "Teacher...?" He guessed although he wasn't entirely sure why he picked that one out of all of the ideas in his head.

She laughed. "I take back what I said about you being a detective then."

"I was wrong?" He asked, pretending to look horrified.

She laughed quietly. "I don't think I'd be a very good teacher. I've not got even half the patience you need to do that."

"Does this mean I owe you a drink then?" He asked.

She nodded. "I believe that was the deal..."

She watched him as he leaned forward on the bar, getting the attention of the bartender. The ripple of his muscles under his shirt as he moved didn't escape her notice. Maybe this new start in Chicago might not be all that bad if all the men looked like him...

"So." He turned on his chair again to look at her, handing her another glass of wine. "Are you going to tell me what you do? Or do I just have to keep guessing all night?"

She grinned at him. "I don't know... the idea of keeping you guessing does sound kind of fun." She took a sip of wine. "But... as you're way off base and we don't have all night I probably ought to tell you."

"Who says we don't have all night?" Kelly asked, raising an eyebrow suggestively.

"Me." She laughed. "As much fun as this is, I have to be at work super early tomorrow and I can't let you get me drunk... I feel like you would if I stayed here all night."

"You're probably right." He laughed. "So then... this mysterious job...?"

She laughed. "Nothing mysterious about it really, you're just really bad at guessing... I'm a doctor."

"Ah... I should've guessed." He was a little disappointed he hadn't included that in one of his guesses. "At Med?" He asked.

She nodded.

"I'm surprised our paths haven't crossed." He commented.

"Why? Are you a regular patient? Should I be worried." She raised an eyebrow at him. "You trying to buy me with wine to get preferential treatment?"

He laughed. "If I'd guessed your job right then maybe... but I think we both know that wasn't why I came over here."

Her cheeks flushed again. "Seriously though, it's my first week. You'd better not come in and start causing trouble." She joked.

"I'll do my best... it's a dangerous line of work though. I'm not planning on getting injured again any time soon." He smiled.

"Well, that's good... If you get yourself injured you won't be able to take me out to dinner." She winked, finishing the last of her wine.

He wondered for a moment if he'd heard her right, a grin spreading across his face. "I'm pretty sure that's something I can manage."

"I'd like that." She smiled, pulling a pen out of her bag and scrawling her number on a napkin. "I'll see you around Kelly." She pressed her lips to his cheek quickly, inhaling the smell of his cologne. She jumped off the stool and was at the door before he moved.

His eyes followed her to the door as she left, then he saw Matt and Gabby laughing at him. "What?" He asked, moving back to his seat next to Matt again.

"The old Severide charm not working for you any more buddy?" Gabby laughed.

"What do you mean?" He looked at Matt who was trying not to laugh.

"I've never seen a girl hightail it out of here so fast after you bought her a drink," Matt said, trying to control his laughter.

"Who said the Severide charm doesn't work?" He asked, the napkin with her number on dangling from his fingers like a prize.

Gabby groaned. "They fall for it every time... every single time." She'd lost count of how many women she'd watched Kelly pick up since they'd opened Molly's. None of them ever lasted longer than a couple of weeks.

"Hey!" Kelly protested. "That was uncalled for. I like this one!"

"You said that about the last one... what was her name? Laura? Lara?" Gabby shot back at him.

"Lauren." Kelly corrected. He was entirely sure it was correct but he wasn't about to admit that to Gabby.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes at him. "Good luck to her, that's what I say."

The worst part of starting in a new hospital was the fact she was constantly getting lost. She'd had her induction and been given a tour and at the time the hospital layout seemed to make sense. She was confident she'd be able to find her way around without the map they'd given her so she'd tossed it in the trash like an idiot. Now she was stood in the stairwell being paged to a department she had no idea how to find. So much for first impressions and all that. She scanned the map on the wall that was supposed to be for patients, finally figuring out where she was supposed to be going before jogging up another three flights of stairs to go and see her patient.

When she emerged from the patient's room half an hour later she was feeling rather pleased with herself. Crisis successfully averted, it was nearly lunchtime. She was nearly halfway through her first proper day and she hasn't had any major disasters. She checked the map on the wall again, heading in what she hoped was going to be the direction of the canteen to find some food.

Halfway there her phone rang with a call from a number she didn't recognise. She braced herself for a moment before she answered it, praying it wasn't going to be another one of her residents. She'd been a little bit too on the friendly and approachable side when she'd introduced herself to them because they'd been calling her up every five minutes to ask her questions.

"Dr Wright." She answered, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. She must remember to at least partially terrify the residents and interns next time she started a new job... although she was hoping there wasn't going to be another next time any time soon.

"Oh... I..." the man on the other end of the phone stuttered for a moment. "Is that Amber?"

"Mmm." She nodded, balancing the phone between her shoulder and her chin as she reached to get a sandwich off the shelf. "It is."

"Oh good, great. It's Kelly. Kelly Severide." He sounded almost nervous.

There was silence on her end for a moment.

"From the bar the other night..." he added for clarification.

"Oh, I know who you are." She added quickly. "You just took me by surprise."

"Oh really." He grinned.

She paused for a second to pay the cashier for her sandwich, heading back to the door to try and remember which direction exactly led to her office. "I wasn't convinced you'd actually call me."

"Why's that?" He asked.

She hesitated for a moment, then decided to be honest. "You hear things in the hospital, the nurses like to gossip. Let's just say the great Kelly Severide has quite the reputation around here it would seem."

He cringed. Should have seen that one coming really. "I've changed... it sounds cliche but seriously... that's not me anymore."

She was quiet for a moment. This hadn't really been a part of the plan, getting involved with anything other than work. She didn't know why she'd given him her number, she shouldn't have done really. Or let him buy her that drink. But he was attractive and seemed like a genuinely nice guy, he's caught her when her guard was down.

"I can prove it to you." He persisted. He wasn't sure why it bothered him what this woman thought of him, after all, he barely knew her. It did though, and he wanted to prove her wrong.

"What?" She hadn't been listening, suddenly deep in thought about the promise she'd made herself when she left Florida that she'd just focus on her work and avoid getting involved in any messy complicated situations involving men.

"I'll prove it to you... just have dinner with me... tonight?" He asked hopefully.

She laughed quietly. "You're keen."

"I like you." He said simply, as though there were nothing more to it. "I'm not hearing a no from you either."

"Okay." She agreed although this was the complete opposite of what she'd agreed with herself. "I've gotta go. Text me the details?" The odds were she'd have some kind of patient emergency to deal with later and she'd end up cancelling on him at the last minute later anyway, she reasoned to try and reassure herself she hasn't just done something terrible. And if not... she'd call it fate and she'd be going out for dinner with a handsome fireman. There were worse ways to spend an evening.

"What will be will be." She muttered quietly, suddenly realising that she'd managed it successfully navigate her way back to her office.

As it turned out, she finished work on time, her afternoon being completely free from anything that could vaguely resemble an emergency. As a result, she hadn't been able to see any reason not to go to meet with Kelly, he'd sent her the address of a bar a couple of blocks away not long after she'd spoken to him at lunch. It looked nice enough, he seemed nice and she decided that for once in her life she'd just go for it.

That was all very well, but she was now stood in her apartment, wrapped in a towel with her hair dripping wet, wondering which one the many boxes she was yet to unpack might contain either a hairdryer or some clothes that might be passable to wear on a date. Somehow, she didn't think scrubs would be acceptable.

She eventually found a pair of light jeans and a black top that she was sure she hadn't worn in years and was much tighter than she would've liked. She'd run out of time to look for anything else though so it was going to have to do. She quickly blow-dried her hair into submission, slapped on just enough makeup to hide the bags under her eyes, grabbed her heels and ran out of the door.

She ended up having to power walk a couple of blocks to the restaurant to get there on time, something which made her regret her choice in footwear. She shivered and pulled her jacket close around her. Despite the workout, she'd got dashing to the restaurant she was freezing. She was certainly going to have to invest in some warmer clothes for the winter in Chicago.

The bar was packed when she walked in, but she quickly spotted him sitting at a table just inside the door. He jumped up as he saw her, pulling her in for a hug and kissing her cheek. "Hey, it's good to see you."

"Sorry, I'm late." She tried to steady her breathing so she didn't sound like she'd just run a marathon. She was going to have to get back in the gym too. "Took me a lot longer to walk here than I thought."

"You walked?" He looked slightly horrified as he sat down opposite her. "You crazy or something? It's freezing out there."

She laughed quietly. "Yeah, I kinda forgot that it's a lot colder here than in Florida."

"You're from Florida?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'm surprised you didn't freeze to death."

"It was close." She joked, taking the glass of wine he passed across the table to her. "Thank you."

"So… What made you want to move up here?" He asked curiously.

She laughed quietly, sipping at her drink. That certainly wasn't going to be something she was getting into with him tonight. "Fancied a change of scenery." She shrugged, quickly changing the subject. "You lived here your whole life?"

He nodded. "Grew up here, I can tell you from my years of experience you're going to need a thicker coat and a decent pair of boots." He laughed, looking at her thin jacket and her heels.

"Noted." She laughed. "If you're quite finished laughing at my unpreparedness…."

He held his hands up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay… I'm sorry."

"You will be." She winked. "So then, tell me about the infamous Kelly Severide."

He groaned. He didn't even want to think about what she might've heard. "Who told you what?"

She laughed. "It wasn't even all that bad, I was joking… although from the look on your face maybe I should be worried after all."

He breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "I'm not saying I'm an angel now, but…"

"We've all been there." She shrugged, not entirely wanting to think back to her not too distant past.

"You still came… should I take that as a good sign?" He asked nervously.

She laughed. "I don't know anyone around here, an evening out with a fireman to tell me all kinds of stories sounded too good to miss. Besides… you're pretty easy on the eye too." She winked.

"So then… a doctor… you must have some stories to tell?" He asked, leaning towards her slightly.

She nodded in agreement, her smile matching his. "Neurosurgeon technically….Where do you want me to start?" She grinned.

It was just after midnight when they left the bar, she'd only been intending to stay for an hour but she'd lost track of time. She thought that she had some funny stories from work, but Kelly's had topped hers and then some. She shivered as the icy cold air hit her, pulling her jacket closer.

"Come on, let me drive you home?" Kelly suggested quickly. He pointed at his car that had been parked just outside.

"I'm not going to argue, it's freezing out here." She struggled to stop her teeth chattering. "I'm going to buy warmer clothes first thing tomorrow."

"Come on then, before you freeze to death." He laughed, opening the car door for her. She quickly slid into the seat, teeth still chattering. It wasn't any warmer in his car but at least it would be quicker.

She suddenly realised she wasn't entirely sure which way he needed to go, but thankfully he knew where she meant when she gave him the address. They were pulling up outside her building a couple of minutes later and she couldn't help but feel disappointed. For all her anxiety and doubts about going, she'd had a really good time and wasn't ready for it to be over.

"I um.. I had a really good time tonight." She mumbled, not sure what to say. "Thank you."

"We should do it again sometime?" He suggested.

"We should…" She hesitated for a moment. "You don't have to go just yet…you could come in for a bit."

He didn't answer straight away.

"You don't have to… Forget I said anything, I should go." She said quickly.

He grabbed her hand as she reached for the door handle. "Yeah, I'd love to."

He climbed out of the car and followed her up to the door.

She hesitated for a moment as she put the key in the lock. "I probably should've mentioned that I haven't got any furniture yet." She told him, unlocking the door.

He laughed. "Nothing?"

"Well, I've got flat packs… I just haven't got round to building any of it yet." She explained. "But… I do have beer."

"Sounds okay to me then." He smiled, following her inside.

With him stood beside her she became aware of quite how bare her apartment was. "Sorry… I haven't done much unpacking at all." She headed to the fridge and pulled out two beers, handing one to him.

"No need to apologise." He smiled, leaning against the kitchen counter. "You any good at building furniture? It might take you a while if not." He raised an eyebrow at the huge stack of boxes piled up waiting to be built.

"I don't think so." She pulled a face. "I've never actually tried. Jack built everything in our last place."

"Jack? Is this the mysterious ex?" He asked. It hadn't escaped his notice the way she'd quite quickly changed the subject whenever he'd asked her something about before she moved to Chicago.

"Yep." She answered, taking a swig of beer. "Anyway… We don't need to talk about him."

Kelly would've been lying if he said it didn't make him curious, but he didn't push any further. Instead, he set down his beer and walked towards the pile of boxes.

"What are you doing?" She asked trailing behind him.

"I was going to see if I could put one together." He explained, as though it was the most obvious thing ever.

"I didn't ask you up here to build my furniture." She laughed. "It's gone midnight."

"What did you have in mind?" He asked she looked at him suggestively, answering his questions without actually speaking. "Well…" He looked at the instructions. "This will take like fifteen minutes… Then you'll have a coffee table and we'll still have plenty of time for whatever you've got planned." He smirked.

"Well… In which case I'm not going to stop you." She grinned, sitting cross-legged on the floor and watching him. True to his word, fifteen minutes later he was proudly showing her the coffee table that now stood in the middle of the room.

"I'm impressed Severide… You're a handy man to have around." She grinned at him, taking a step closer to him. There was barely half a step between them now, she could feel his breath on her neck.

"I did try and tell you." He joked, leaning towards her. "So, remind me… what was it you had planned for after I'd finished building your furniture?"

She placed her beer down on the new coffee table and grinned at him, taking another half step forward, her hands coming to rest on his chest. He looked down at her, his eyes twinkling as his hands wrapped around her waist. She stretched on to her toes, now she'd taken her heels off her was quite a bit taller than her, and pressed her lips to his.