Casey had one foot out Brett's front door when he reeled back and said to her, "Okay...I've got an idea, might be a bad one, but I want to get your take on it."
"What is it?" Sylvie asked.
"You said you thought the reason I jumped out of the rig to get to you was because...I'm in love with you." The awkward way Casey said it sounded more like he was asking a question.
Embarrassed, Sylvie glanced towards the corner and gave a small nod.
"Okay...so what if we go out?" Casey asked.
Sylvie looked at him and did a double take. "What?"
"You've clearly been thinking about this for a while," Casey pointed out, "so wouldn't it be better to know once and for all if there's anything between us?"
She felt very confused by the question and was stammering and struggling to come up with an answer. So Matt took the initiative to elaborate on his question.
"Maybe we're meant to be together, maybe we're not, it wouldn't have to be an official date, it could just be two friends going out for the night...and if something happens, then we'd both know, and if not, then we're no worse off than we already are," he told her. "Make sense?"
She blinked and nodded, "Yeah...yeah, it does, actually."
"Okay, well, I'll let you figure out where we're going, and when, you can get back to me when you decide," Casey said.
Sylvie nodded mechanically as she replied, "Sure...I'll...I'll let you know."
Casey took a step out the door again, and this time was a little closer to actually leaving, but he turned back and came in again, he held onto the doorknob as if it was a barrier between them and asked her, "Uh...so, was any of this going through your head the other night when I stayed over?"
"Oh," Sylvie shook her head, "No, actually...that was the first time in...a long time that I didn't even think about it."
"Well I can definitely see this idea's off to a roaring stop then," Casey said.
Sylvie laughed.
Casey had a lot on his mind when he got back to Severide's apartment, he unlocked the door and headed in, and noticed the place was quiet. It was only after he slammed the door behind him he actually saw Kelly seated on the couch. The Squad lieutenant had been watching TV, but now his attention was drawn to the blonde man who'd stormed in without a word.
"Everything okay?" he asked testily.
Casey nodded, "Yeah, fine..." he looked around and asked, "Kidd here?"
"Nope, she's out working on something for her Girls on Fire thing," Kelly answered.
"Good," Casey said, "I need to talk to you."
Kelly grabbed the remote and turned the TV off, "Okay, about what?"
Casey sat so low on the couch that he was just about to slip off it entirely and land on the floor as he rolled his eyes and said dryly, "I'm so glad to know this is amusing to you."
Kelly Severide was sprawled on his back on the floor laughing like a sick hyena, and had been in that exact position for almost 10 minutes after Casey got done explaining what had happened at Brett's apartment. Every so often he broke into high pitched whooping howls, and at other times he couldn't make any sound at all but his whole body was still wracking from the silent guffaws.
Casey huffed in exasperation and said to Severide, "Would you please shut up?"
Kelly sucked in another gasp of air and tried to pull himself together, it took a few tries but he was finally able to speak again, and when he did the first thing he said was a weary, "Help me up, I can't move."
Matt sighed and grabbed Kelly's arm and pulled him to his feet. A couple minutes later Kelly was finally able to calm down and compose himself.
"Okay...so now what?" he asked.
Casey shook his head and explained, "I don't know...she's going to let me know when she figures out what it is she wants to do..." he glared at Kelly and said ominously, "And I swear to God, you better not breathe a word of this to Kidd, or I will kill you."
"My lips are sealed," Kelly responded, "not that it'll do any good, this is still going to be flying around the firehouse come Monday."
"Let me ask you a question," Casey thought of something, "The whole time this has been going on...did you ever hear anything about it?"
"A few things," Kelly answered, "but I never paid much attention...I mean hell, the latest one is that there's something going on between Gallo and Ritter."
The two officers exchanged a similar look of disgust and morbid amusement at a rumor like that.
"I mean that tells you how credible firehouse gossip is," Kelly said.
"Yeah, but it sure never stops anybody," Casey replied. He jabbed Severide in the chest with a finger and added, "I mean it, one syllable."
"Nobody will hear about it from me," Kelly told him.
Casey knocked on Brett's door, and a few seconds later he heard the chain and bolt being undone and when the door opened he saw her standing there in blue jeans, a green sweater and already had her coat on.
"Hey."
"Hey," she replied. "So...what I thought we'd do is catch an early movie and then go somewhere for dinner."
"Sounds like a plan," Casey said as he followed her out the door, "but I'll warn you, I don't do well with chick flicks."
Sylvie stopped and Casey hadn't seen it and he walked right into her. She turned around to face him with a puzzled look on her face and said, "Chick flick? Uh, no...I found a theater that's playing "Back to the Future"."
"Seriously?"
She nodded. "Have you seen it?"
"Oh yeah," Casey answered, "you?"
"Uh...bits and pieces when it's on TV," she explained as she locked the door behind her, "I thought this would be a good time to see the whole thing."
"When does it start?" Casey asked.
Sylvie checked her phone. "In about 15 minutes."
"We better get going then."
They headed out to the curb and Casey opened the passenger side door on his truck.
"Thank you," Sylvie said as she climbed in.
It was going on 11:30 when they returned to Sylvie's apartment that night. The sound of their inebriated laughter could be heard bouncing off the walls before the door unlocked and they all but fell into the apartment. They were both none the worse for wear as Casey sported a bruise on his cheek just under his eye, and the sleeve of Sylvie's sweater was half ripped at the shoulder and her hair was disheveled and the two of them howled with laughter all the way over to the couch where they just barely landed on the cushions before falling on the floor.
"Oh this has definitely been one of the more interesting dates I've ever had," Sylvie said as she leaned back against the couch.
"Same," Casey choked out around a side splitting guffaw before he asked her, "Do you usually get into bar fights on your dates?"
"He insulted me," Sylvie replied as if that explained everything. "And he insulted you too."
"I know," Casey absently touched the bruise on his face in remembrance, and laughed, "Never needed a paramedic to pull some drunken idiot off of me before."
"Same," Sylvie parroted, "Did you see the way he fell on the floor?"
"That tends to happen if you hit somebody in the groin with a full bottle," Casey pointed out.
Brett laughed in remembrance. "Well, it stopped him, didn't it?"
"Oh I think it stopped him from a whole lot of stuff," Casey laughed, "including having children."
They both had a gut busting laugh at that thought.
Brett looked at him and said, "I really had a great time tonight."
"So did I," Casey responded as he leaned over and his face got closer to hers. The two of them drew in close to one another and tried to get their bearings straight to kiss, but before it happened, Sylvie lost her balance and fell back against the arm of the couch, drawing another drunken laugh out of the blonde paramedic.
"That's my cue to go," Casey said as he wearily got to his feet.
"Are you sure?" Sylvie asked with a slur, "You had a looot to drink tonight."
"Oh I'm fine," Matt answered, "I got us back here, didn't I?"
"Yesss," Sylvie weakly said as she just about passed out entirely.
The Truck captain looked down at Brett and saw she was already dead to the world. He reached over her and pulled the afghan off the back of the couch and draped it over her, still folded in half, but it covered her, and made his way to the door, reaching for the lights on the way and only hitting half of the switches on the wall as he went.
Sylvie woke up with a mild but throbbing pain just above one eye. The sun was out and pouring into the windows of the apartment, she didn't know what time it was but she knew she'd slept on the couch all night, but she didn't really remember getting home. She lay there for a moment, fighting to get out from under the afghan that had about swallowed her whole, and tried to think, tried to remember. She had no recollection of when she'd gotten home, or how...but she was pretty sure she hadn't done it alone.
"Casey," the answer suddenly came to her.
He'd brought her home, and then he'd left. Yawning, groaning and stretching her arms high over her head, Brett got up from the couch and decided to start the day, whether she wanted to or not. She went to the door to get the paper, the door was unlocked but she didn't pay that much mind. But when she opened it to get the paper.
"Casey!"
Matt Casey was sprawled face down on the porch, as Sylvie knelt down to check his vitals she could hear him groaning, then he turned over and slowly opened his eyes.
"Wha'happened?" he asked.
"Matt, are you okay?"
He blinked, and looked around, and arched his spine to tip his head back for a better look at his surroundings.
"You slept on the porch all night?" Sylvie asked in disbelief.
"It looks that way," Casey slowly responded.
"Are you hurt?" she asked as she grabbed his arm and tried to pull him to his feet.
"No...no," Casey weakly argued as he shook his head, "Just hungover."
"Come on inside and I'll check you over, what happened?" she asked.
"I...remember falling," Casey said as she ushered him inside the apartment.
Sylvie had him sit at the kitchen table and briefly examined him and determined he wasn't hurt, just hungover like he said, but in no shape to go anywhere just yet. She put on a pot of coffee and by the time she poured two cups, she went into the living room and found Casey face down on the couch, seemingly asleep. She woke him up and gave him one of the cups to drink.
"You had a lot to drink last night," she noted.
Casey put his cup on the coffee table and replied, "Obviously."
Sylvie went out on a limb and asked, "Because you were nervous last night?"
Casey half shrugged and said in response, "A blind date would be easier, you walk into that expecting to fail and when it's a disaster you're not disappointed, and it's not someone you know so you don't have to worry about when you blow it..." he looked at her through the corner of his eye and noted, "you drank quite a bit as well. Were you nervous?"
She wasn't quick to answer either way. Instead she sat down on the couch beside him, put her cup on the table next to his, then she turned to Casey, and all but jumped on him as she caught him off guard and kissed him. It was several seconds before Casey finally responded and kissed her back, and a few seconds later Sylvie pulled away from him and they looked at each other.
There was a somber look in Brett's eyes as she asked him, "You didn't feel anything, did you?"
"No," Casey shook his head. "And I'm guessing you didn't either."
Sylvie shook her head in response. The silence between them was awkward for several seconds before it was finally broken when Casey said lowly, "Sorry."
Brett stared straight ahead with a blank look for a couple seconds before she told him, "Well, it's like you said...it's better that we find out...and..." she turned where she sat so she faced front again and said, "and I can stop acting like some lovesick idiot. God I feel so stupid."
"Why?" Casey asked.
"Because I actually thought...I thought that you were interested in me."
"I wasn't, I'm sorry," Casey said honestly.
Sylvie sighed and looked down towards her feet.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, and heard Casey's voice as he asked her, "There's no reason we can't still be friends, is there?"
She turned towards him and shook her head, "No."
Casey nodded. "Good...can I be honest with you?"
Sylvie nodded.
"I told you what a disaster I have even asking a woman out, even trying to get to the first date," Casey said.
She nodded.
He paused, and told her, "It was kind of flattering that you thought I was in love with you."
A small giggle escaped Sylvie before she could clamp her hand over her mouth to stifle it. "Flattering?"
"Yeah...if I actually was...that would've made it a lot easier to ask you out."
The paramedic couldn't hold back any of the additional titters that broke loose when he said that.
"I'm sorry," she said over her laughing, "I'm sorry...this has just been a huge mess all around, hasn't it?"
"Not one of the worse ones I've been in," Matt admitted. He cocked his head towards her and told her, "It was kind of fun being your boyfriend for one night, but I have to be honest, if we were actually in a relationship I think we'd kill each other in the process."
Sylvie fell back against the couch roaring with laughter as details of what happened last night had started to come back to her memory.
After the movie they'd gone to a bar and grill for dinner, and whether it was both their nerves working overtime or just bad luck, they'd both developed a sudden and lethal case of the dropsies and half of the things they picked up at their table wound up either on the floor or flying out of their hands to the next table, and they'd left early before the scene got ugly. Then they'd gone to a bar, not Molly's obviously, to get a drink and wind the evening down, one drink became another, and another, and a few more later they'd decided to try a game of pool before calling it a night. Sylvie's vision blurred and doubled like her eyes had crossed and gotten stuck, and when she hit the cue ball, it jumped over the edge of the table and hit a barfly who was far drunker than they were. He'd started yelling at her, Casey came to her defense, Casey wound up being physically thrown over a table, then when he landed on the floor he was choked as the man grabbed a fistful of his coat collar to yank him up and punch him, then Sylvie had come up with a full wine bottle she'd snatched off the counter and in the middle of her drunken threat she'd unintentionally jabbed him in the groin with the flat end of the bottle, quickly putting him on the floor beside Casey doubled over groaning in pain. Casey had gotten to his feet and the two of them decided to get the hell out of there, but not before they got into a scrape with a couple of the man's equally drunken friends.
"I think you're right," Sylvie said as she forced enough air into her lungs to actually speak over her high pitched laughter, "this relationship could be very hazardous for our health."
"And everybody else's," Casey added.
The two of them laughed themselves sick for several minutes before they finally calmed down. After a few silent minutes, Casey announced, "I should probably get going."
"You sure you're okay to drive?" Sylvie asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he answered as he stood up. He found his coat and fumbled to get it on and told Brett, "I really did have a great time last night."
She smiled fondly and replied, "Me too."
"Well, I'll see you on shift tomorrow," Casey said.
Just as Sylvie opened her mouth to respond, Casey leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, and it left her dumbstruck. Casey hadn't noticed this and left the apartment. Sylvie sat on the couch with her mouth slightly hanging open and pressed a hand against her cheek, which felt almost branded by the kiss. She felt something there that she hadn't felt when she kissed him.
"So?" Kelly asked when Casey dragged himself in the apartment.
"So what?" Casey asked as he shrugged out of his coat.
"What happened?" he asked.
"Nothing."
"You were gone a long time for nothing," Kelly pointed out.
"I slept on Brett's porch all night," Casey grumbled as he made a beeline for the kitchen.
Kelly's eyebrows raised at this revelation. "She threw you out? I'm impressed."
Casey poured himself a cup of coffee and quickly downed it, and regretted it, and was bent over the sink throwing up. Kelly could recognize a hangover when he heard one, he helped Casey clean up when he was finished and walked him over to the couch and got him settled, then went back in the kitchen and came back with a bottle of water and two aspirins and had to talk Casey through taking them. The Truck captain reluctantly took the pills one by one, looking the whole time like it was excruciating just to swallow.
"Was it that bad?" Kelly inquired.
Casey rolled his eyes and with a huff he explained everything that had happened the night before, and that morning, and by the time he was finished his whole body felt like a boneless sack of jelly, he simultaneously leaned back against the couch and against his best friend for support to stay upright.
"You kind of knew going into this that it wouldn't work, right?" Kelly asked.
Casey wearily nodded. "It was more for Brett's benefit, so she could stop obsessing over it."
"Well all the same, I'm sorry it didn't work out," was all Kelly said.
He almost didn't hear Casey's half whisper, "What's wrong with me, Kelly?"
He blinked and sat up straighter, taking away part of Casey's support. "What're you talking about? Is this because of what happened with Brett?"
"No, it's not about Brett," Casey replied in a regular tone, "The problem is me, why is this so hard? I'm 40 years old and I still can't ask a woman out without feeling like I did back in the academy." He leaned back at an angle to get back the support he lost and pressed his side against Kelly's and craned his head back to look at him. "You remember the nervous wreck I was before I asked Hallie out?"
Kelly nodded almost fondly, "Oh yeah, I remember. All week long you looked like you were going to swallow your tongue."
"Why hasn't anything changed since then? I was supposed to outgrow this awkward phase at some point, and instead, because of it, I'm going to die alone," Casey moaned.
"No you're not."
"Yes I am, I know I am," Casey told him.
Kelly was nothing if not sympathetic to his friend's problem, he'd witnessed it first hand a lot when they were younger. He was ashamed to think about it now, but he and Andy used to hold bets on whether or not Casey would actually ask a woman out, and also whether she'd say yes or blow him off. But he still couldn't help finding it amusing when Casey got melodramatic like this. It would be more amusing if Casey wasn't constantly beating himself up over it.
"That is never going to happen, Casey," Severide told him.
"What makes you so sure?" Matt asked him.
"Look on the bright side, you'll always have me," Kelly held his arms out to his sides in a gesture.
"Oh now I'm really depressed," Casey replied.
Kelly laughed, then leaned over and kissed Casey on the forehead.
Casey was aware of a few things without opening his eyes, one he knew he was laying on the couch, two he could smell the upholstery so he knew he was turned facing the back of the couch, three, he could feel a blanket draped over him and he was just warm enough teetering on too warm, four, he couldn't feel the sun in the room so he knew it was later in the day, how much later he wasn't sure, five, he could hear two voices nearby but not in the same room, and they were Kelly and Stella.
He missed the first part of what Stella had said, but Kelly's response of "Just let him sleep," was audible enough.
"Is he sick?" Stella asked.
"A little under the weather," Kelly answered.
He was glad he was facing the back of the couch because he smiled as he realized that Severide would keep this secret of his, and what had happened would not become the latest piece of firehouse gossip.
Casey was drawn out of a dreamless, un-eventful sleep by the sound of his phone buzzing. He absently reached out for it, picked it up, and squinted his eyes around the bright light the screen was putting out as a he read the text message that had just come through. Then his eyes popped open to their full size, and he jumped out of bed.
Kelly hadn't gone to bed yet and he was more than slightly puzzled when Casey came out of his room fully dressed and putting on his coat.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I don't know, I just got a text from Brett asking me to pick her up," Casey said as he grabbed his keys and was out the door.
"Pick her up where?" Kelly called after him, then after that though to ask, "why?"
Casey pulled his truck up to the directions Brett had given him and didn't understand what was going on. In his headlights he could see a figure standing in the middle of the street and as it came up, he saw it was Sylvie, even with the distance between them he could tell something was wrong, he threw his door open and hopped out and ran over to her.
"Are you okay?"
Sylvie was standing unsteadily on her feet, her whole body was shaking, her hair was disheveled, her jacket was torn, she had a bloody cut over one eye and her lip was bleeding in two places as she shakily tried to answer, "Y-y-y-yeah I'm fi-i-ne, I think..." her voice was simultaneously strong and hysterical and she sounded near tears.
"What happened?" Casey demanded to know.
"I don't know!" she all but screamed, "I was on this date with this guy and he started getting pushy and he-"
Casey's eyes widened with a sensation of fire in them as he asked her, "What'd he do to you?"
"Nothing," Sylvie cluelessy answered, "we started fighting and he drove off and left me and I called for a ride and this guy pulled up and said he was it and I got in and he locked the doors and..." her voice trembled now and words were beyond her for a minute before she was able to explain, "I got the door open and I jumped out, and he just...drove off..."
Casey's mind was racing in several different directions at once and he wasn't sure what to do first. "Do you need to go to the hospital, or the police?"
"No!" Sylvie answered, "No, I...I don't think so...I just want to go home!"
"Are you hurt? Is anything broken?"
She shook her head, but he noticed her arm was hanging oddly at her side. He chanced barely touching it and the blonde woman pulled back with a yelp. Sylvie grabbed it with her good hand and told him, "I hit it when I landed."
"You need to go to the hospital and get it x-rayed," Casey told her.
Sylvie shook her head adamantly, "No, I just want to go home, please, just take me home!"
To his surprise, she turned and threw her good arm around him and clung tightly to him in a desperate hug. Very carefully he put his hands on her in return and told her, "Alright, alright, we can do that, come on, it's going to be alright."
Sylvie ripped into a travel pack of Kleenex Casey had in his glove box and used one to dab at the blood still trickling from her lip and told the Truck captain, "I'm really sorry about this, I don't know why I called you."
"I'm glad you did," Casey replied as he drove along in the night.
Getting out of the cold of the fall Chicago night air and into Casey's pickup with the heater running full blast and getting away from the vicinity of her attack seemed to do a world of good for Brett's demeanor, she calmed down, she was coherent, and more like her regular self.
"Are you sure you don't want me to take you to the hospital?" Casey asked.
"No, don't bother, I'll be fine," Sylvie answered.
"Why didn't you call 911?"
"And tell them what? I didn't get a good look at the car, or the driver, and they'd ask why I was out there alone, what do I tell them? I was dumb enough to go out with some guy who didn't want to take no for an answer? Oh yeah, that'd go over really well, wouldn't it?"
"You were kidnapped, you were assaulted," Casey told her.
"I got away, and I'm fine," Sylvie insisted. "And I don't want to talk about it."
Casey could tell he wasn't going to win this argument and merely responded, "Okay."
Matt got Sylvie back to her apartment where in the bright light of the kitchen he looked her over. She took off her coat and rolled up her sleeve and he saw her arm was red and skinned in places, nothing seemed to be broken and was more likely merely a bad case of road rash from when she jumped out of the car. The cuts on her face would hurt for a few days but were largely superficial, she had two cuts over the corner of her mouth that made it look like she had two hair lips. He helped her doctor them up and got her some Tylenol for the pain, and an ice pack for her arm.
"I guess I was right a while back," Sylvie commented. At Casey's blank and confused stare she explained, "What I said about you're always the one to pull me out of a crisis...thanks for coming tonight to get me."
"Just doing my job," he replied lightly. A thought came to him and he asked her, "Do you need me to stay with you tonight?"
"Oh, no," Sylvie shook her head, "I appreciate it, but I'll be fine, really."
"Okay...if you're sure."
"I am."
"Okay..." Casey inched his way towards the door, then turned back and told her, "If you change your mind you can call me, I'll be right over."
"I know, thank you," she said.
Casey about headed out the door, then turned back again and told her, "Let me know how you're doing tomorrow, because I'll be stopping over if you don't."
Sylvie giggled. "Got it. Thanks, Matt."
"Okay then...goodnight."
This time he was out the door and pulled it shut behind him.
"Are you okay?" Kelly asked as he and Casey stood in his office, he had one eye out the window and the other eye on Casey, who had both of his boring holes through the glass.
"Yeah, of course," Casey answered.
"Are you sure about that?" Kelly asked him.
"Yeah," Casey nodded, "I'm fine."
Kelly wasn't sure what else to say, but he tried. "You know, if you're not, that's okay too."
Casey turned to him, "I appreciate your concern, Kelly, but I'm fine with this."
"Well, if you decide you're not, or you just want to talk about it, you know where to find me, right?"
"Down the hall and to the left as usual," Casey commented.
Kelly inched his way next to his best friend and joined him in the current view he had as they looked out to the bunk room and saw Sylvie and Gallo chatting it up over something and looking very friendly.
"I'm happy for her," Casey said almost absently.
"I know," Kelly told him.
"I don't know if it'll actually work out for them, but as long as it does, I'm happy for her," Casey explained. "She deserves to be with somebody who knows what it is he's looking for."
He felt a strong arm over his shoulders and practically wrapping around his neck.
"You'll know the right one when you find her, Casey," Severide told him, "your day's coming."
"I'll take your word for it," Matt replied with a small wry smile. "In the meantime," he tapped the glass with his knuckle, not loud enough to draw the attention of the two first responders in the next room, "This is their moment, let them enjoy it."