WARNING: The rape will be mentioned in this chapter; nothing too graphic will be included. If this is hard or upsetting for anyone please don't read.

Author's Note: I'm sorry this update may be a little later than what some of you all are used to. This chapter was so hard for me to get in the mood for and write. Why? I have no idea, lol. The next chapter should be pretty easy for me to plan and write, so hopefully, I can surprise you all earlier this week. I hope you're all staying safe and healthy! As always thanks for the comments, reviews, favorites, follows, votes, and so much more!

Enjoy!

Song (On Wattpad): Before You Go by Lewis Capaldi

Chapter Eleven: Please Come Back

"Going away won't change anything if you're running from yourself."

Joyce Rachelle


"I'm leaving."

Matt wasn't sure that he heard her right. Did she just say that she was leaving? "What...what did you just say?"

Sylvie looked at him and felt her heart swell. He looked so...upset at hearing her news. "I said I'm leaving."

"Leaving?" Asked a shocked Matt as he spun his chair around and stood up. "What do you mean you're leaving. Where are you going?"

"Matt, calm down! I'm not leaving completely, I just...I just need to get away from here. You know? I just need a break from everything."

Matt felt like someone had just taken a knife out of the kitchen and sliced his heart in half. "Where are you gonna go?"

"Fowlerton. I think. I might go there first and then somewhere else. I'm not sure yet. I do know, though, that I have to tell my parents."

Matt couldn't help but think how unlike Sylvie this sounded. She always had a plan. A precise plan at that. "Sylvie...are you sure about this?"

Sylvie sighed before she threw her hands out of her pockets, "Yes, I am sure about this."

Matt nodded and slowly sat down back in his chair, "How long?"

That question caused Sylvie's strong, confident stance to sway a little. "I'm not a hundred percent sure yet. But I think that with Furlough and some of my saved up days, I can get at least a month off."

"A month?" Shouted Matt, surprising both himself and Sylvie who practically jumped out of her skin.

'Why is he so upset about this? It's not like I'm packing up all of my belongings and never coming back.' Thought Sylvie as she stood there and stared at the boiling mad fire captain in front of her.

"Yes, Matt, a month. Why are you so upset by this?"

Matt wasn't sure what he should say to her. Should he tell her that he cares about her and doesn't want her to leave? Or that he can't stand to be away from her for too long?

"Sylvie, I'm not upset. I'm just worried about you. You've been through a lot, and I just don't want anything else to happen. Are you sure that you want to do this right now?"

Sylvie thought about all he said and she knew he was right. She had been through a lot. Way more than she ever thought she would have to go through.

"Yes...Matt. I'm doing this."

Matt nodded and didn't say another thing. He wasn't ready to let her go. They had gotten so close and he honestly didn't know how he was going to make it through a month without seeing her every day.

"I'm gonna go talk to Boden before he leaves."

"Okay," Whispered Matt before he watched her walk out of his office.

He was so angry that she was leaving. To him, it felt like she was running away from Owen, from what had happened to her, and him. Was she running away from him?

Matt sat in his chair for a quiet, furious moment before he picked up the closest object to him and flung it across the room. Luckily, it was his stapler and not something easily breakable like his phone.

He felt bad as soon as he saw the stapler fly across the room and hit the door. The thud it made immediately caused him a headache he knew he would have a hard time getting rid of. He hated these recent anger fits of his; they all seemed to start the instant she told him about the rape.

The shift was over not too much longer after their talk. Sylvie was happy she talked to Boden when she did. He told her that due to her recent confession about the rape, there was no way the CFD could deny her request for a month off. And, they didn't; her request was approved a couple hours after it was submitted.

It was hard telling everyone that she would be leaving for a whole month. They all seemed to make her want to stay. Stella practically threatened to chain Sylvie to the ambulance along with Emily. But, in the end, they all saw how much leaving meant to Sylvie and they gave her their blessing. Foster wasn't too happy about being paired with a newbie for a month while Sylvie was gone, but she eventually got over it and started helping her friend pack.

Sylvie was happy Boden made her tell everyone else. While some may say it's out of line, she thought it was just what she needed from the father of the house. He didn't do it as her Battalion Chief, he did it as her family. She wasn't sure she would have had the courage to tell them had he not told her she needed to. He had truly been a blessing through all of this; he didn't question Sylvie leaving at all. In fact, he had even encouraged it.

But, there was one catch, as there always is. Right? The CFD was fine with her taking a whole month off, she just had to go ahead and start her mandatory counseling while she was gone. Sylvie was fine with that, though. The only problem would be finding someone she didn't know in Fowlerton. Hopefully, Google wouldn't let her down and she could find a therapist a couple of towns away.

"We need salsa!" Yelled Kidd as she plopped down on the couch and stuffed her face full of pizza.

All three girls laughed and returned to the smorgage board full of food they had laid out for their last girls' get-together the night before Sylvie left.

"Stella, we have almost every snack food known to man. I think we can do without salsa for the night."

Stella looked at Emily and shook her head. "Hey, I'm not the one who got the biggest bag of chips and no salsa. Am I? You're the one who was in charge of food."

Emily looked at her friend and quickly threw a handful of popcorn at her. Sylvie erupted in giggles when she saw popcorn and tortilla chips being thrown back and forth.

"I'm gonna miss you two." She whispered catching them both off guard and making them freeze with their weapon in mid-motion.

Sylvie had been so quiet about leaving no one was really sure how she felt about it. If she was excited or dreading it. She hadn't really spoken to anyone about it in a lot of detail.

"We're gonna miss you too, you know." Said Stella as she took her hand and wrapped it carefully around her friend's shoulder.

"Yeah, you have to make sure you call, text, and facetime us every day. It's gonna be hard getting used to you leaving us again."

Sylvie sighed and sipped her chilled red wine, "Guys, we all know that I'm coming back. There's no chance up in the air this time around."

Emily and Stella both shared a look with each other before they agreed with Sylvie and went back to drinking their drinks and snacking on their plethora of food options.

"Hey, I hate to bring this up right now...but have you heard anything else from Sasha?" Asked Emily as she stretched her feet out in front of her.

Sylvie shook her head and sat her wine glass down on the table next to her before she answered her friend. "Ummm, no she hasn't got anything new for me. I actually stopped by the station today and told her that I would be leaving for a little while."

"Oh, yeah? What did she say about that?" Questioned Stella.

"Well, she said that was actually probably really good for me. A lot of victims tend to want to leave or get away before they can make any good progress and heal."

"That's good." Smiled Emily.

"Yeah, I think this is going to be good for me, guys. I really do. I think I need this time to come to terms with it, tell my family, and help them come to terms with it. You know?"

Emily nodded for both she and Stella before she agreed with Sylvie and grabbed her hand. "Yeah, we do."

The conversation between the girls carried on for hours after that. They talked about everything under the sun from how Kelly was now obsessed with an overly clean kitchen to the fact Emily's new girlfriend didn't believe in emergency services. The girls always had a good time together; whether they were cleaning windows at the firehouse or sprawled out on the couch shoving their face full of greasy, fat food.

"Hey, what's going on between you and Casey? You both seemed to have gotten a lot closer." Commented Kid as she practically licked her bowl clean of Vanilla Bean ice cream.

Sylvie gave a small blush before she took a bite of her microwaved S'more. "We have gotten a lot closer. I mean, he's been amazing since the second I told him about..the rape."

"Did he say goodbye to you today at Joe and Chloe's housewarming party?"

Sylvie looked at Stella and shook her head no. "He said he would be by in the morning before I left to check my car and help me load my stuff in it."

"That's awfully nice of him. I wish Kelly offered to pack the car up for me every time I needed it. I swear the man has seemed to have lost every ounce of chivalry he ever had the longer we're together."

Sylvie and Emily both laughed at Stella's unannounced rant.

"Maybe he's just comfortable with you." Offered Sylvie.

"Yeah, too comfortable. But, I can't help it. No matter how weird or unchivalrous he is sometimes, I'm still head over heels for him."

Sylvie smiled before she stole a piece of chocolate-covered banana off of Emily's plate. "Do you think you two will ever tie the knot?"

Stella froze for a minute before a huge smile lit up her whole face, "I don't know. Maybe. We haven't really had the marriage talk too much. Okay, but enough about me we're here to talk about you and spend time with you before you leave us."

Sylvie playfully shook her head at her friends, "You guys are acting like I'm moving to a different country."

"Hey, what do you expect from two crazy best friends like us!" Yelled Stella as she stood up and started walking towards the bathroom.

Sylvie and Emily both lifted their wine glasses up and clinked in a conjoined 'cheers'.

"Guys, I know it's weird. But, I promise that I'm not running away. Okay?"

"Okay," Whispered a non-convinced Emily. "Hey, you never did tell us how Casey took the news of you leaving when you told him last week."

Sylvie sighed and chugged the rest of her dark red wine "Yeah, he wasn't too happy when I first told him, but I think he's starting to come around to the idea."

Emily nodded. "He just wants you to be careful."

Sylvie gave a sad shrug, "Yeah, I appreciate that...I just wish that he didn't even have to be this involved in the first place. You know? I just...I wish the rape never happened."

Stella and Emily both felt their hearts break for their friend. Emily got up from her seat at the kitchen table and came to sit next to her friend. "I know, B. We do too. You're gonna get through this, though. Okay? You know that and we all know that. You are the strongest person I know. You're gonna get through this."

"I know," Whispered Sylvie as she kept her head held high and ferociously fought off the tears, she now considered her enemy.

On the other side of town, not too far away, Matt and Kelly were holed up at the loft having a much-needed guys' night. The two of them had been so busy recently, they both felt like they had hardly seen each other; even though they still lived together.

"Loser!" Yelled Kelly to the tv as he and Matt watched the BlackHawks lose their game.

Matt laughed at his friend's antics before he grabbed his beer off the table and took another drink of it.

"Hey, man. I haven't got the chance to ask you in a while, but how's Sylvie doing? I know the two of you have been around each other a lot here recently."

Matt sat his beer down and turned his attention back to his friend, "She's getting better, I think. I don't know. I still think she should stay here and not leave."

"Maybe it's what she needs to feel better, man."

Matt just nodded his head. He wasn't sure how he really felt about her leaving. Every ounce in his body wanted her to stay, while another little piece of him just wanted her to do whatever made her feel better.

"Hey, have you all heard anything else on her case? I asked Stella earlier, but she said that she hadn't heard anything from either of you."

"No, man. We haven't heard anything. Sasha, Sylvie's Detective on the case, said that it could weeks for them to find the guy."

"Owen?" Questioned Kelly before he got up and walked to the kitchen to get them both a new beer.

Matt's knuckles instinctively tightened on his now empty beer bottle. "Yeah, Owen. I asked Halstead to look into him for me, but he couldn't find anything. And, he said that since it was now an active case involving Sylvie's rape there was probably nothing he could really do for me."

"That's rough, man." Commented Kelly as he handed his new beer and sat next to him on the couch.

"Yeah, it is. I just feel helpless. You know? I mean what would you do, God forbid Stella was in this situation?"

Kelly took a second before he answered. "Honestly?"

Matt nodded and waited eagerly for his friend's honest answer.

"I would make whoever did that to her pay. You know me, man. My temper often speaks for me."

"Yeah, I know." Whispered Matt before he picked up his phone and checked for any new messages from Sylvie. He hadn't heard much from her tonight, but he knew that Kidd and Foster were taking care of her. He hated to think about how much ruckus they were causing.

He was right, though. They caused a bunch of trouble throughout the whole apartment with their boisterous attitudes. It was about two a.m. when Sylvie finally crawled into her bed. She had such a good night with her girls, she knew she would definitely miss them. All of them. It was going to be hard to go a month without seeing anyone from the house. But, she needed this. She really did. There was no way she was going to make any progress if she felt...trapped. And, she did. She needed to get out. She needed to breathe.

Yeah, she was going to miss everyone. Especially him. It was gonna be hard to remove the Matt Casey factor from her life considering how close they had recently become. But, understand that she needs this. And, he'll be here for her when she gets back. Right?

Sylvie was so lost in her thoughts that when her phone rang out, she literally jumped and sat straight up.

She cursed her nervous and jumpy antics before she blindly reached over to her nightstand and grabbed her phone. She slid the 'answer' button and had it up to her ear before she even thought about looking at who had called.

"Hello," She whispered into the phone as she placed her hand over her racing heart.

There was no answer on the other side of the phone. The only thing that Sylvie could hear was shallow breathing.

"Hello. Who is this?"

Sylvie waited for a couple more seconds before she pulled the phone away from her ear and looked at the caller ID.

Her stomach dropped when she saw that the caller ID said, 'Private Number'.

"Who is this!" Yelled Sylvie into the phone before she heard a loud click and the call ended.

Her heart was still racing when she dropped the phone and let it fall on the bed. Who was that? Why didn't they say anything? Was it him? Was it Owen? No. It wasn't him, right? He wouldn't call her now. Would he?

Sylvie laid her head back down on her pillows and cursed her racing heart and thoughts as they sped on.

She hardly got any sleep after that. Every time she closed her eyes he was all she saw. Just standing there right in the living room staring at her. It was a nightmare over and over again.

She eventually got about two hours of sleep right as the sun started to come up.

Matt didn't sleep well either. Neither of them seemed to get a good night of sleep unless they were with each other...maybe that should tell them something.

Matt feels like he's been awake since the sun came up. All he seems to do at night now is think. Think about Sylvie. Her rape. How she's doing. If she's ever going to be the same. If she's okay. If she's hurt. Or safe.

It's all he does every night unless he's with her.

"Ughh, I can't believe you're leaving me for a month. How am I going to survive all those shifts without you?"

Sylvie gave a small tired smile to Emily who was currently laying on Sylvie's bed and not helping pack. "I'm sure you're going to live."

"I don't know about that, B. Now I have to get used to a man being in the ambo with me."

Sylvie let out a small laugh at her friend's over-dramatic antics. "Hey, you don't know you might want to replace my spot with him by the time I get back."

Emily sat up and shook her head, "I don't think so, B. We're together for the long haul."

The girls laughed and smiled with each other before they went back to packing and organizing the rest of Sylvie's belongings.

They were both started though when they heard a loud banging on the door. Sylvie hated that now her first instinct, when she had a visitor, was to run and hide.

"I'll get it, B." Whispered Emily as she started to scoot off of the bed.

Sylvie quickly shook her head and held her arm out, "No, I got it. I gotta get used to opening doors and letting people in some time, right?"

Emily nodded and tried to give her an encouraging smile. "Sure, you got this."

Sylvie smiled and slowly made her way to the door. She hated not knowing who was on the other side.

She slowly unlocked the lock and turned the knob.

"Hey," Smiled Matt as he stood there with his arms full of food and drinks.

"Umm...hey. Sorry, come on in."

Matt continued to keep his smile on his face as he walked through the door and made his way to the kitchen table. "Sorry, for banging on the door, but I was afraid that one of the coffees would slide out of the carrier if I moved my arms too much."

"Matt, it's okay. But, what is all of this? You didn't have to bring anything."

Matt shook his head and started removing the coffees from their carriers and the food from the bags. "Nah, I hadn't had breakfast yet. And, I figured you all would be hungry, so I brought coffee, doughnuts from your favorite Krispy Kreme, and muffins from mine and Foster's favorite Bakery."

Sylvie looked at the sweetest man in front of her and she could help but smile, "Matt Casey, I think you are the sweetest man to ever walk the planet."

Matt was about to say something but before he could get the words out Emily came in the room and made her presence known.

"Did someone say coffee and muffins?"

"Yeah, Matt brought us all kinds of yummy breakfast food."

Emily snatched a coffee up off the table and quickly plopped down on the nearest seat available, "Captain Casey, I think I'm falling in love with you."

Sylvie and Matt both laughed out loud before they joined her in getting a coffee and sitting down. They all ate and chatted for a good while before they cleaned their plates and all got up to help clean.

Sylvie decided while they were eating that she wasn't going to tell anyone about the phone call this morning. There was no need to worry anyone when for all she knew it was just a wrong number or a bunch of kids trying to prank someone.

"Hey, Syl. Where are your car keys? I was gonna go down and make sure everything was good before you got on the road."

Sylvie quickly walked over to her purse on the couch and pulled out her keys for Matt. "Here ya go. The back a little crowded right now; I had Stella help me carry stuff down yesterday."

Matt nodded and grabbed the keys from her. "Okay, I move everything around when I'm done and see If I can free up any more room."

"Thanks, Matt."

Matt smiled at Sylvie and walked out of the apartment. He checked everything from A to Z on her car. What could he say, he wanted her to be safe. He was done there for about thirty minutes before he came back up to the apartment and saw Sylvie and Emily hugging and saying goodbye.

"Oh, B! I'm gonna miss you! Promise me you call when you get there and you'll text me every day."

Sylvie laughed and pulled Emily in tighter. "I promise! You take care of yourself. I'm gonna miss you too."

They squeezed and hugged each other for about two minutes before they each let go. Emily hated to see her friend go so she made a quick excuse for a getaway and told them that she promised Stella she would meet her at Molly's.

Sylvie was glad she said bye to everyone on their last shift. She didn't think she could do it today right before she left. Her emotions were everywhere from the floor to the ceiling.

"Hey, you ready to make your way downstairs?"

Sylvie looked over at Matt and nodded her head. "Yeah, I'm ready. I just feel like I'm forgetting something, you know?"

"I'm sure if you forgot anything Foster will call and let you know."

Sylvie nodded and grabbed her purse and rolly suitcase, which Matt took from her as soon as she walked to the door. Sylvie just couldn't get over how he was always such a gentleman.

"You're right. I'm ready, let's go."

Matt smiled and waited for her in the hallway while she locked the door. They both traveled down to the parking lot in silence.

"Let me know when you get there, please. I..ugh...I checked everything on your car and your spare, so you should be good to go for the trip."

Sylvie put her purse in the car then she turned to look at Matt. "Thank you for everything, Matt. You don't know how much it's all meant to me. Really."

Matt smiled and pulled her in for a gentle hug. "Sylvie, just promise me...that you're coming back."

Sylvie pulled away from him and wiped at a tear that was starting to form in the corner of her eye, "I promise."

Matt nodded and opened her car door for her so she could slide in.

"Be careful,"

Sylvie smiled and buckled her seat belt, "I will. Promise me you'll take care of yourself and not put yourself in any unnecessary danger."

"Promise." Grinned Matt before they both said goodbye and he stood there and watched her drive off.

She had already turned the block when he was still standing in his spot and he whispered, "Please come back."


I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. Lol. It felt like I had to pull my own teeth in order to write it. But, like I said above the next chapter should be easier.

Thanks to all who comment/review!

What did you think!? Again, sorry for any typos, misspellings, or anything like that. I write late at night with no glasses on, lol.

Thanks again for reading and the support!

Stay safe and healthy!