Watching as Casey approached her the following morning, Taylor spotted the clipboard in his hand and groaned. Taking it without a word, she went out to the truck and got started on the truck inventory. Making sure that the halligan was in its compartment, she slammed it shut and grabbed her phone as it vibrated in her pocket to find a text from Greg.

'I need that rent money as soon as possible.'

Feeling her stomach churn at the thought of dropping the money off after shift, she deleted the text without responding and finished her duties. The rest of the shift was relatively quiet and Taylor arranged to meet everyone at Molly's, before walking the half an hour journey to Greg's place.

Posting the envelope through the letterbox, she left without another thought and made her way home to shower. Knowing that the others were probably sleeping, she settled on the sofa and turned on the television.

Unsure when she drifted off, she woke up to the sound of something breaking and someone cursing softly under their breath. Giving her brain a moment to fully wake up, she peered over the back of the sofa and watched as Severide cleaned up whatever he had broken.

"Need some help over there," she called with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"I think I've got it covered," Severide replied with a chuckle, "Sorry for waking you up."

"Don't worry about it," Taylor added, checking the time and noting that it was a little after noon, "Boden roped me into baking some stuff for the barbecue tomorrow, but I can't decide whether to do cookies or a cake?"

"Peanut butter cookies," she heard Shay shout from upstairs, "Plus some chocolate chip ones for anyone allergic to nuts..."

"Any other requests?" Taylor said.

"If you're offering, I wouldn't say no to some of those s'more cookies you baked for my birthday," Shay added as she appeared on the spiral staircase that led to her room, "Please."

"I suppose so," Taylor agreed, padding over to the kitchen and making a list of what she needed, "I need to pick some stuff up from the store, do you guys want anything?"

"I'll take you if you want some company," Severide offered, earning a nod from Taylor and grabbing his jacket.

The trip to the store was quick and Taylor soon found herself in the kitchen, working on the first batch of chocolate chip cookies with Shay's help. After nearly four hours of baking, she placed the final batch on the cooling rack to cool off and got ready to head to Molly's.

The small bar was surprisingly busy for a weekday, but they didn't find it hard to locate the others in their usual corner and joined them. Smiling as Otis handed them a drink, Taylor leaned against the bar and listened as everyone started talking about the shift.

After a couple of beers, she decided to call it a night and headed home. Waking up early the following morning, she got dressed and made her way to the kitchen where Severide was already sitting.

"Morning," he greeted with a smile, pouring a cup of coffee and handing it to her.

"Thanks," Taylor replied, sorting the cookies to take to the barbecue and grabbing herself a cereal bar from the cupboard.

"Shay said that she'd meet us there," Severide informed her as he washed up his breakfast bowl.

Nodding in response, she slipped on her jacket and collected the cookies as she followed Severide out the front door. Everyone had already arrived by the time they climbed out the truck, greeting the chief with a smile and placing the cookies on the table.

Leaving Severide to talk to Casey, Taylor went to get them a drink and handed him a beer as she returned. Scanning the crowd for Shay, she quickly spotted the blonde approaching with Corrine in tow and smiled at them both. They had been talking for nearly an hour, when she heard Otis call her name and looked over at him questioningly.

"There's someone looking for you," Otis said as he reached them, motioning back in the direction he had just come from and continuing, "The guys on shift told him that you'd be here."

Glancing over to where Otis had pointed, Taylor immediately saw who it was and stood up. Hesitating momentarily, she took a deep breath and made her way over to where the man was standing.

"Hi, Taylor."

"What are you doing here, dad?" Taylor asked icily.

"Come on, tatertot, don't be like that," her dad stated, "I heard that there was a family barbecue and thought I'd stop by to see my daughter..."

"Don't call me that," Taylor mumbled, feeling anger rise in her chest and tears form in her eyes, "Just tell me why you're really here..."

"I need to borrow some money."