Scoffing in disbelief, Taylor shook her head and turned to walk away.

"Taylor," her dad said, stepping forward and grabbing her arm, "Please don't walk away..."

"Funny that, I remember asking you not to leave once..." Taylor replied, pulling her arm from his grasp and continuing, "Now the only time I see you is when you need something from me."

"That's..."

"You're right about one thing though, this is a family barbecue and my family is already here."

"Is everything okay?" Boden asked as he joined them.

"Everything is fine, Chief," Taylor told him, offering him a small smile and looking back to her dad, "He was just leaving..."

Walking back to the others, Taylor swallowed past the lump in her throat and sat down next to Severide without a word. Feeling her chest tighten, she knew immediately that she was on the verge of having a panic attack and took a sip of her beer.

"Are you okay?" Severide inquired, earning a nod from Taylor and frowning slightly, "Do you want to get out of here?"

Nodding again, they said bye to Shay and headed to the truck. Sitting in the passenger seat, Taylor stared out the window and let her mind wander.

'Creeping along the hallway, Taylor peered around the door of her parent's room and watched as her dad threw clothes into a bag.

"Daddy..." Taylor called, frowning when he simply zipped up the bag and stormed past her towards the front door.

"That's it run away," her mom shouted from the living room, "It's what you're good at after all."

"Please don't leave, daddy..." Taylor begged as tears ran down her cheeks, "I'll be good."

Without pause, her dad opened the door and slammed it shut as he left.'

Snapping back to reality, Taylor noticed that they were heading in the wrong direction for the apartment and looked over at Severide with a frown.

"The apartment is back the other way."

"I asked if you wanted to get out of there, I said nothing about going home," Severide stated.

"Where are we going then?"

"You'll see."

Settling back in her seat, Taylor listened to the music playing on the stereo and felt herself relax a little. Getting out as Severide parked up outside the Willis Tower, she joined him on the pavement and reluctantly followed him inside.

"I've never been up here," Taylor said as they exited the elevator on the 103rd floor.

"I haven't been since I was seeing Renee," Severide admitted quietly.

"Do you bring all the girls here?" Taylor teased, stepping on the glass balcony and taking in the view.

"Only the ones I care about."

"The guy at the barbecue was my dad," Taylor told him, keeping her gaze on the city beyond the glass and continuing, "The reason I don't talk about my parents is because they're not a part of my life, unless they want something and then they hang around just long enough to get it before disappearing again."

"What did your dad want?" Severide asked.

"Money, probably to buy drugs or pay off whatever dealer he's gotten involved with. That's why I don't talk about him or my mom, I don't want people thinking that I am like them... I'm nothing like them."

"No one at the firehouse would ever think that..."

Spending another ten minutes taking in the sight of the city below their feet, they left and made their way home. Realizing that neither of them had eaten, Taylor made them both some food and sat on the sofa to watch a movie.

"Thank you for today," Taylor stated, once the movie had finished and Severide was washing up the plates, "I'm sorry for dragging you away from the barbecue."

"You didn't drag me away from anything," Severide replied, putting the plates away and turning to face Taylor as she sat up on the counter, "I know that you've just come out of a relationship and I don't want to pressure you into anything you're not ready for, but I do want to spend more time with you."

"As friends?"

"I was actually hoping that you'd agree to go out to dinner with me tomorrow, but if friends is all you want..."

"Dinner sounds good," Taylor agreed with a smile.

"Any preference on where we eat?"

"It doesn't matter to me."

Heading over to see Mrs. Caswell, Taylor helped her with a few things that she needed doing around the house and agreed to stay for dinner. Taylor loved listening to the elderly lady talk about her late husband, it was clear that he meant everything to her and it gave her a warm feeling inside knowing that love like that existed.

"He would have liked you," Mrs. Caswell added with a fond smile, "Our sons were his world and he adored them with everything he had, but there was always that silent hope that we'd have a girl one day."

"He sounds like a great man."

"He was and one day I will be back with him, where I belong."