AN - My first attempt at the One Chicago universe. After 9x02 and the preview for 9x03, my little shipper heart just had to play in the Brettsey sandbox. I'm 100% a fluff writer, but there might be a little angst in this one as driven by the episodes. It's been a while since I've written anything, and like I said this is my first One Chicago piece, so reviews would be greatly appreciated.

"Would you go with her?"

She sank down on the couch and leaned her head back. "Really, Sylvie? That's what you go with?"

Sylvie Brett was usually a very confident person. She never would have left Fowlerton to try and make it in Chicago if she wasn't. She knew when she left Harrison that she deserved more. She knew when she broke it off with Antonio that she deserved more. But when she found herself falling for Matt Casey, she began to fear that she might not be enough. Gabriela Dawson cast a pretty long shadow, and Sylvie had felt like she was standing in it professionally for a very long time. She couldn't do it in her personal life as well.

For a while now, people had been assuming she and Matt were a couple… Julie, her friend Olivia, a couple of the new nurses at Med, even the barista at the coffee shop around the corner from her new apartment. She had corrected them all at first, but eventually stopped when she realized that she indeed had feelings for him. She didn't want to look like she protested too much… that, and she'd started to believe that maybe, just maybe Matt was falling for her too.

When she saw him there after the accident, it was all she could do to keep from throwing herself into his arms. Instead, she'd thrown herself into her work and forced everyone's attention to rescuing Halleck.

Ever since then, things had been awkward. Matt Casey, or maybe it was just looming thoughts about Gabby, brought out her insecurities. She'd try to avoid him because when he was close, it was becoming harder and harder to keep herself from just kissing the daylights out of him.

Earlier tonight at Molly's Patio, when Gallo was regaling everyone with the story of Matt's heroics, she realized that she'd been right. He had to have feelings for her, too. He would risk his life for any member of 51, but would he jump from a moving fire truck for just any of them? Maybe not. That realization scared the hell out of her and she ran out as fast as she could.

She'd been about halfway through her second glass of wine when he showed up at her door. He'd barely started talking when she finally stopped fighting the impulse and dove in to kiss the daylights out of him.

He kissed her back.

As first kisses go, it was a pretty damned good one. And it kept going… and going. It was heading down the road of going a lot farther, but Sylvie stopped short when Gabby's face appeared behind her closed eyes.

Gabby.

Gabby Dawson was Matt's great love. She could never measure up, and she couldn't go down this road only to have the whole thing blow up in her face when Dawson showed up and decided she wanted Casey back.

So she did the only thing she could, she asked him.

"If Gabby showed up here tonight and asked you to go back with her, would you go?"

"I don't know…"

"Stupid, stupid, stupid," she said out loud, sitting up and reaching for her long-forgotten glass of wine.

Of course he would choose Gabby.

At least she had 48 hours to get herself together before she'd have to face him on shift again.

"Would I go with Gabby?" Matt asked himself, out loud as he climbed into his truck. "Hell no," he went on. "I wouldn't go with Gabby. I didn't. Why would she ask me that?"

Matt had been so taken aback by Sylvie's question, he just said the first thing that came to his mind. He was quite literally stunned and before he'd had a chance to really gather his thoughts, she asked him to leave.

He didn't want to leave. He wanted to face whatever just happened and fix it, but then he thought about the look on her face when she'd asked him to leave. She meant it. He knew Sylvie better than probably anyone at this point, and he knew she needed time.

He would have to give it to her.

If he loved her, and he was beginning to realize that he did, then he would have to give her time to work through this in her own way. He would also have to find a way to show her that Gabby Dawson was his past, but he hoped that Sylvie Brett was his future.

He would give her their 48 off but as soon as they were back under the same roof at 51, he was going to do whatever he could to make her see that she was the one he'd choose, every time.

He just had to pray he wouldn't fuck it up by saying the wrong thing… again.

She'd managed to get into the Firehouse without seeing him. She'd gotten in to the locker room and back to the common room, and for the first time she found herself praying for a call to come in before the chief's briefing.

She grabbed a cup of coffee and headed into the conference room. If she was already seated in her customary seat up front, Casey would just stand in back like always. It would be too awkward for him to differ from their regular routine and try to talk to her in the few minutes before the meeting. That is, if he wanted to talk to her at all. And at this point, that was a big "if."

She was still musing on how or whether to keep avoiding Matt as the rest of the house filed in. She didn't even notice when Stella sat down next to her or when Chief started the meeting.

She hated that she'd thrown him out of her apartment but in that moment, she just couldn't face him. She wasn't quite ready to face him now either, but she knew she had to. If they didn't quickly put this behind them and try to get back to being coworkers, and maybe even friends, things would change significantly for the whole firehouse.

Sylvie was shaken from her reverie by the sound of chairs scraping across the floor.

She'd literally missed the whole meeting, she quickly prayed for the bells to go off. But God must not be smiling on her today because there was no call and she found herself standing face to face with Matt Casey.

"Brett, can I see you in my quarters, please?" he said, in a tone that said it wasn't really a request. He nodded in her direction as he headed toward the bunkroom

Might as well get it over with.

"Sure, Captain," she said. "I'll be right there."

Standing outside the door, Sylvie took a deep breath. Matt was sitting at his desk, but didn't look up.

"Come in, Sylvie," he said.

Sylvie, okay. So this was definitely personal. They were doing this. Now. At the firehouse. She did as he asked and entered the small room. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it.

He turned around and looked up at her.

"You okay?"

She nodded as he stood up. She stepped over next to the bunk to put a little more distance between them.

"Matt, I…" "Sylvie, I…" They both began at the same time.

It was a good ice breaker, they both smiled and let out a long breath.

"Matt," she said again. "Look, its okay. I know you're still in love with Gabby. I'm sorry I threw myself at you. We can just go back to the way things were. We're co-workers, professionals. I am a professional. I can control myself. I won't bother you…."

"Sylvie," he said, smile spreading across his face. God, she was adorable. "You're babbling." He reached out and touched her hand.

A warm blush spread across her face as she finally looked him in the eye.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I had this whole speech prepared, but then when I got here I couldn't remember a word."

"Well, we both know that I'm not so great with words," he said with a sigh. "And the bells could go off at any second, so I'm just gonna say the most important thing you need to hear first. I'm not in love with Gabby."

"But you…"

"Sylvie, you threw me for a loop," he said. "That question was the last thing I expected to hear, and I couldn't think. I honestly didn't know what to say."

"Look," she replied. "This may not be fair, but you said you didn't know. Matt, I need you to know. If there's even a question, I can't do this. I won't do this. I've done the thing where the guy I'm with doesn't put me first, or I'm not his first choice. I'm not going back there. I deserve better."

"You're right," he said. "You do. But Sylvie," he said, reaching out for her hand. "My feelings for you are real, regardless of Gabby."

"But that's just it, Matt," she said with a sigh and pulling back her hand. "There is no 'regardless of Gabby.' She is still a huge part of your life. I can't, I won't live in her shadow."

"Ask me again," he said.

"What?"

"Sylvie," he said. "Ask me again."

"Matt, we don't have to do this."

"Yes," he said. "We do. Ask. Me. Again."

She shook her head, unsure of why he was putting them through this.

"Okay. If Gabby showed up here today and asked you to go back with her, would you go?"

"No," he said decisively. "I wouldn't. I didn't. Sylvie, Gabby did ask me to go with her. More than once. I wouldn't go when I didn't know I had feelings for you, I sure as hell wouldn't go now."

Damn. Why couldn't he have said that that night? She reached up to wipe at the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Listen to me," he went on. "You are what I want, Sylvie Brett. I choose you. I…."

He was interrupted by the sound of the bells.

Ambulance 61, person in distress, 364 Walton St

"We're not finished here," he told her as she turned to make her way to her rig. "Go, and be safe."

It seemed like all the vehicles were busy the rest of the shift. There were a few quiet hours overnight, but Matt didn't dare try to pick up their conversation with the whole house sleeping right outside his door.

He found her in the locker room, talking to Gianna as she was packing her bag to go home. He waited for Mackey to leave before speaking.

"So, can we have breakfast?" he asked. "Maybe talk some more?"

She nodded.

"I think we need to," she answered. "But maybe not in public? You want to come over to my place?"

"You think that's a good idea?"

"Honestly? I'm not sure," she answered. "But I'm willing to find out."

"Okay," he said with a smile. "Can I bring anything?"

"Just your appetite, I cook a lot when I'm nervous."

He waited a little while before showing up at her door. Long enough to not appear eager, but not long enough for her to think he'd changed his mind.

She answered as soon as he knocked.

"Hey," he said.

"Hey," she replied, twisting her watchband ever so slightly. "Come in. I hope you're hungry," she said, stepping aside to allow him entry. "I went full on farm breakfast. Eggs, bacon, pancakes, biscuits, gravy…"

"Wow," he said. "It smells great."

They made it through the meal and clean-up on small talk, but with the leftovers packed up to take back to Stella and Severide, the dishes done and everything in its place, the time had come.

"So," he said.

"So," she repeated, walking over to sit on the couch.

He followed and sat at the opposite end.

"I meant what I said yesterday, Sylvie. I choose you," he said. "Yes, Gabby was a big part of my life. We had six years together. But looking back, what we had was six years to show me what I don't want. Yes, I'm sure a part of me will always love Gabby. But our relationship was not the perfect love that you and others seem to have put on a pedestal."

She leaned back into the pillows and let him go on.

"You said you wanted someone to put you first, someone who would choose you," he said, and let out a breath, making her look into his eyes. "That's what I want, too. What I had with Gabby was never that. Gabriela Dawson is a powerhouse, and she wanted a sidekick… a yes man. I need more than that, too. I want a partner, someone to stand beside me, to do life along with me. And this might be moving a little too fast, but I just need to be perfectly clear. I want that partner to be you, Sylvie Brett."

"For someone who has trouble with words, that was a pretty damned good speech, Matt Casey," she said, smiling through her tears as she moved across the couch.

This kiss was as sweet as their first.

Neither was naïve enough to think that everything was going be all sunshine and rainbows, but they had gotten over their first major hurdle and they were off to a pretty good start.