"Soooo, what are you going to do?" Aria asked Odette. The part-time clerk was leaning on the front counter, scrolling through Instagram while Odette added the freshly baked red velvet cake to the wide display case.
Aria was referencing the dog that Odette had hit a couple of mornings ago on her way to her bakery. Odette was frazzled for the rest of the day, constantly checking in with the vet's office. In between baking cakes and cookies, she used her resources at hand to attempt to find the owner of the dog. She even made the errand of running to Office Depot to print out a bunch of flyers to distribute. No one yet had claimed the pet, but the dog's surgeon agreed that Odette could take the dog home tomorrow to allow it to recuperate after its major injuries. Hearing the poor pup would survive was a weight off her shoulders, but that hadn't abated any of her guilt for hitting the dog in the first place.
In her head, she'd been calling him Oakley since he suddenly ran out from an expanse of large oak trees and along the road she was driving. It didn't feel right to be taking him in temporarily without giving him a name. She made a note to stop by PetCo after work to get him some food and a comfy crate mat for the house. She hated her fixer upper home that her dad had left her after his passing, but she was now lucky for the roomy yard space it provided so that Oakley could move around some while healing.
"Well right now, I'm gonna go take some of these treats to the firefighters who helped me out. And I'll take Oakley home with me tonight. …I don't really know much to do after that." Odette shrugged. She looked around at her bakery with pride before gesturing towards the back.
"Can you go get me one of those large pink boxes, please?"
Aria went to go grab one and came back with it already folded up. Odette left a few slices of the red velvet cake out on the large plate and then bent down to get a few other trays with cake slices on them. She made sure to choose a variety of sweets to hopefully appease the taste of all four firefighters who'd assisted her. Piling it on, she was also mindful to add extra for other firefighters who may have wanted in on the sweets.
"Here's a couple of slices of cheesecake too."
Aria handed Odette a smaller pink box to also bring to the first responders. Odette secured the top of both of them with her glittery stickers with the shop's name on them. Aria smiled at her and moved to the side to allow Odette the room to walk around the counter.
"Alright, I'm off! I should be back in about an hour or so."
Aria nodded and walked ahead to hold open the door for Odette, seeing her off.
As Odette turned on her car and let the conditioned air roll in, she pulled up the Internet page that provided the location of Firehouse 51. She remembered spotting the Squad 3 name and insignia on the firetruck as she drove off to the vet's. It didn't take too much work to discover that its house was No. 51. With a couple of more clicks, the phone plugged in its address and began sounding off directions.
Being back in Chicago was still taking some getting used to. She moved away after college and only recently returned after her father's untimely death. Her mother had moved a state over after the divorce and Odette decided it was the right thing for her to remain close to home. It had been a dispiriting thing, losing her father, but moving into his old house had made her feel closer to him. She was slowly but surely renovating the house and the process had been healing for her. His final gift, a large lump sum of cash that the cheapskate man never spent, was saved for her, his only child. His heartbreaking letter revealed that he knew his time was coming and he wanted only to fulfill one final wish: give her the means to quit the job she so miserably hated and build her own dream bakery. Between TopCake finally taking off and his fixer upper house finally coming together, Odette had climbed out of her hole of bleakness and found something resembling contentment.
As the automated voice guided her to her destination, Odette reflected on how a mere year could make such a difference. She finally found herself in a state of bliss. So much so that all she wanted to do was share that with others. She smiled to herself, proud of her frame of mind.
Still in her joyful disposition, Odette parked her car to the side of the fire house, away from the garage that held the fire trucks and ambulance.
As she walked around to the other side of her car, a blonde man popped his head out and gave a short wave. Odette smiled back and went to retrieve the boxes of treats. The man had approached her and he returned her smile.
"Can I help you?" He queried. His expression wasn't necessarily confused, people stopping by with treats for firefighters was probably no uncommon behavior. But, the lilt in his eyes told Odette that he was curious.
"Yeah, I'm wondering if Squad 3 is stationed here?" She looked around at the trucks, but she couldn't quite see the letterings on the rigs due to the shining sun rays that blocked much of the apparatus area from where she stood.
She was too busy looking around to notice the rise in the man's eyebrows.
"Were you the one with the injured puppy?"
Odette looked at him and sighed with a laugh. "Yeah, that's me." She replied. "He's not my puppy. I just have terrible driving reflexes and hit the poor guy. The guys who helped, their truck was Squad 3. I just wanted to thank them for their help." She gestured towards the boxes.
The man kindly took the boxes from her, careful as he transferred them from her hands to his. "Here, let me help you with that." He offered before taking them. Then, he pointed his head towards the firehouse and gestured for her to follow him. "Come with me."
Meanwhile, the Squad guys were out at their namesake table playing cards. Tony had spotted Odette as she pulled up and silently got the attention of Capp. Capp looked up to where Tony was motioning and was met with the image of Casey talking with who he had nicknamed "puppy girl."
They both smirked at each other and silently spoke with their faces only. Severide was too deep into the game and had not even noticed their shenanigans. Capp took the lead in gaining his attention.
"Hey Severide."
"Yeah?" Kelly replied, not even looking up.
"You still thinking about puppy girl?"
Kelly huffed and glared up at Capp. He was currently losing and getting ribbed on again wasn't helping his mood. Capp had made it a point to crack a joke more than a few times at his expense.
"Knock it off." He retorted before looking down at his cards again.
"Well, if you're not interested, that gives Casey the all clear to make a move."
Kelly's eyes immediately snapped up and ignored the grinning faces of his crew. Instead, they were in search of Casey. They crossed around the whole apparatus floor before leaning his head a little bit and looking out at the driveway. There, he could see Casey taking two pink cardboard boxes from his spell-binding crush. They were beginning to walk towards the shade of the app floor. He stood from his chair and walked to meet them in the middle. Her smile went from curious to full blown vibrancy as their eyes met. The cooling effect it had on them was not lost to his senses. In fact, it stopped him in his tracks and his eyes widened at the new found sensation.
Her effect on him was also not lost on Casey, who had bit his lip to suppress the taunting smirk that was fighting to make its presence known. He was eating this shit up and Kelly knew he was in for it once his best friend got him alone.
"Hey, you." Her airy voice greeted him.
There was something so dulcet about the simple greeting. It shifted his insides and just melted him. He cleared his throat, unwilling to let the croak that was resting in it give way.
"Hey." He simply greeted.
He took a small step closer and lessened some of the distance between them and Casey. He saw the boxes that Casey held and thanked his lucky stars that she felt so moved to bring them treats. Maybe it meant that she was thinking about him as much as he had about her. He never complained when people brought in treats out of gratitude, but he'd never before been so ecstatic.
"I just wanted to bring you all something sweet for your help the other day." She lifted the top of the smaller container and he noticed the bakery logo on the sticker over the opening clasp.
"Wow, you didn't have to buy us food."
She chuckled, "I didn't, actually. I baked it. There's plenty for whoever wants a slice." Casey had closed the container and took the boxes to the squad table, leaving Kelly and Odette alone. "There's a good mix, so hopefully something sweet for everyone." She added.
"Oh, I think Severide has a liking for sweet things!" Capp shouted out.
Kelly made a note to put him on grunt work the next time he was responsible for doling out 51's housekeeping tasks.
He walked a little closer to her, causing her to move back with him in tempo.
"You never told me your name."
"Oh!" She'd just realized. It was only a few seconds ago that she had learned that his name was Severide.
"I'm Odette."
"Odette." He repeated, unable to tear his eyes off the vision in front of him. He nodded and continued to ignore the snickering behind him. He looked down at his watch, temporarily. Lunch rush was over. It didn't completely eliminate, but it significantly decreased his chances of getting called out to an incident. With a risk, he asked, "Do you want to sit and have some with me?" He pointed back at the table where the guys were already digging in. Tony had gone inside momentarily to get plates and utensils.
Someone could have lit a lightbulb with all the electricity flowing through his body when Odette nodded yes.
Kelly turned and they walked in step back to the squad table. He motioned to his seat and pulled it out further for her to sit. Sitting in the seat adjacent to her was too far for Kelly, so he simply sat on the table at the corner, leaning back to observe the treats. The sweet aroma filled his nostrils and he smiled at the various contents within the box.
"Anything you recommend?" He asked as he looked back at her.
She grinned, "Well, the cinnamon rolls go well with coffee. Italian cream is what I usually use for wedding cakes, but it's one of my most popular. Strawberry cheesecake is a classic, but that's only for if you like fruit on your desserts."
Kelly looked back at the sweets again and thought about his choices.
"They all smell so good." He commented.
Odette giggled, "My favorite are the brownies. And I even gave you guys the center pieces so you know it's real."
They chuckled together and Kelly grabbed one of the brownies. He didn't even try to hide the satisfied moan as the chocolate gooiness hit his taste buds. He only hoped it wasn't too obscene for the current setting.
"You like it?" She held her hands together, near her face, waiting for his verdict.
Kelly wouldn't pause his chewing for anything, so he spoke with a full mouth, "It's amazing." He pronounced. His mouth was like a vacuum as it gathered up the rest of the treat and ate it all up. He even licked his fingers, not wanting to waste even a smudge of it. She smiled in response and he wondered how the beam of it was so captivating.
"Well, what's all this and why weren't we invited?" Mouch opened the door, getting ready to do his hourly walk around the premises to keep from remaining stationary on the couch all day. Immediately, he detoured and walked closer to them. Casey gestured to the open boxes, which Mouch promptly searched for something of his desire. Hearing all the noise, Herrmann soon followed and ventured over. He noticed Odette and the closeness with which Severide was sitting to her and smirked before he too grabbed for a dessert.
If he was of clearer mind, he would have snapped at them that this was the squad table and that they weren't even present at the incident in which he'd met Odette, but he was too calm to say anything of that. Instead, he just rolled his eyes and veered them back to Odette. She was greeting the new faces and detailing the cake and cheesecake flavors laid out in front of them.
Casey had asked a few probing questions to Odette: "Where are you from?" "Where's your bakery located?" "Would the dog survive?"
He and Kelly had locked eyes and they softened in appreciation for his best friend helping him out a bit. It wasn't often that Casey entertained Severide's love life, but he was a good wingman when wanted to be.
Before long, Boden had walked out, more than likely curious as to where all his officers were. Not used to seeing so many people ganged up at the squad table, he asked, "What's all this?"
"Ah, Squad helped this sweet young lady out the other day. She came by and brought treats for everyone." Herrmann supplied.
"Technically, just squad." Capp intervened. "Not everyone."
"Hey, what kind of dog is he? He looked full grown, but still pretty small." The Squad 3 floater asked.
"Affenpinscher. I looked it up afterwards to see if there was any specific info I should know about them while I take him in." Odette said.
"You're gonna keep him?" Kelly questioned.
"For the time being, at least. Haven't found his owner yet."
"You know, that's really kind. Looking after him the way you are. And the fact that you were so thoughtful to bring sweets as a show of thanks."
Casey looked over at Severide again and gave the subtlest of nods and a smile of approval.
"Thanks, I know it's technically your jobs and everything, but still deserves some appreciation," Odette conveyed.
"That's very kind of you." Boden added.
Her eyes twinkled in appreciation at the appreciation and she smiled at all the friendly faces that surrounded her.
The dispatch alarms went off and all of the companies were being called to respond to a construction site collapse on the other side of town. Without needing to be prompted, Odette could sense the urgency of the encounter and rose from her seat.
"Thank you again, ma'am, for the desserts." Boden bid goodbye as he hopped into his Battalion wagon. Everyone else was putting on their gear and hopping into their respective rigs. Odette began to speedily walk to her car and Kelly walked with her halfway until he was at his own turnout gear and boots.
Odette kept walking but she waved at him with a smile like honey.
Kelly's mind was currently fumbling, what with the emergency at hand, but also the fact that he had no way to contact her. He obviously couldn't just stall right here, he had a job to do and there were people that needed him right now. But damn, if there wasn't anything he'd do right now to just stay. He was too in his own head and attempting to find focus to say anything else to her. He waved back and got into his seat in the truck. As they headed out, she was getting into her car and watching them leave.
He forced himself to zap her from his brain by the time he got to the scene. There were several construction workers injured and the structure was still unstable and at risk of doing anymore damage. He stepped into this element, corralling people from the impact site, delegating tasks to his Squad crew for tools, stabilizing as much concrete as possible. By the time it was all over, the day was transitioning into evening and Kelly's bones were aching. He sank into his 'assigned' seat at the squad table and internally begged not to be bothered.
Most of everyone had gone to the common room, with the hour so closer to dinner time. The sun was still out, but slowly making its descent to sunset. He welcomed the few degrees lost in temperature and allowed a few moments to rest his eyes and clear his mind.
The delicate winds whirred through the air and into the apparatus area, eliciting soft sounds as papers rustled and leaves lifted a bit off the ground. When he opened his eyes again, he looked out at the table, now abandoned with empty tray boxes, firehouse magazines, and playing cards. His lied faced down and on a closer look, he could see that one of the cards was torn in half.
He grabbed at it and pulled his chair in closer with confusion, looking for the other piece of it. Rifling through the various items on the table, he saw the other half of the card, a Queen of Hearts, adhered to the table with the TopCake logo sticker. Over the card's drawing was a phone number and Odette's name atop.
