Every Breath You Take
Part 4 Only Hope
**Notes** I do hope everyone realizes how thankful I am that the kudos and feedback are still coming. I am working hard to continue making this an interesting ride for Firehouse 51. I am also trying to reply to the feedback I receive.
Once again this is set Season Nine and my husband who was once a paramedic helps me with some of the technical details. All of the errors are mine. Enjoy**
"I went to Rockford this past weekend and saw Amelia," Brett admitted as she sat down on the cot in Casey's office. He walked into the office behind her and pulled down the blinds in the window. After the picture, he wanted to make sure Brett had as much privacy as possible.
"You did," Casey wondered. "How is Amelia?"
"She is getting so big. I took a few pictures if you want to see them," Brett stated as she pulled out her cellphone to show Casey. "I stayed at this quaint Bed and Breakfast with a large pond in the back. I would sit on the wrap-around porch and drink my coffee in the morning before I would go see Scott and Amelia."
Brett needed to think about anything other than the creep that was stalking her. So she sat in Casey's office talking about her weekend. It had been a few weeks since she had last visited her baby sister. After her mother died giving birth to Amelia; Scott had gone back to Rockford to raise Amelia to be closer to his family. Brett had asked Scott if she could come to visit her baby sister whenever possible and he had agreed.
It had taken her about thirty minutes before she calmed down in the turnout room. After that, Casey had taken her to Boden's office.
"Do you know who this man, could be," Boden asked as he put his hands on his desk. "I don't like my people being followed or worried about what is outside these windows."
"I don't know who it could be," Brett admitted as she sat in the chair. Casey stood behind her with his hand on one of her shoulders. The Chief could see the closeness between Casey and Brett, but he would worry about that later. Now he had to deal with a stalker hunting one of his crew.
"Any weird calls, lately," Boden questioned as he wrote down the information Brett was giving him.
"Not that I can recall. I mean there was this one guy last week who got a little weird after his girlfriend died," Brett recalled as she remembered the moment when she pushed Oliver Guthrie into the emergency room.
She looked up to Casey for a moment and put her hand over his that was still on her shoulder.
"Do you remember the head-on collision," she asked. "The passenger died on impact and the driver was unconscious. He woke up in the ambulance and we started talking. He said that he was driving his girlfriend's car and asked about her. I told him that she passed away and he just stared at me with this look on his face that sent shivers up my spine."
"Do you remember the name," Boden asked as he noticed the way Brett had grabbed Casey's hand. He knew they had gotten close, but how close he wondered. Would he need to talk to them about relationships in the workplace?
"Oliver Guthrie, I believe," Brett answered.
"I'll call Med and see what his status is and then I'll call Intelligence and see if they can look into this guy," Boden stated as he picked up his phone. "Captain, stay here for a second."
Brett got up from the chair and left the office. Boden had actually put the phone down for a minute, stood up, and walked to the door and closed it. He needed to know something first before he looked into the patient.
"I know that you were there for Brett when her mother died a couple of months ago. I, also know that if something was going on between you and her, that you would tell me, right," Boden claimed as he stood in front of his Captain.
"Chief, I'm not sure what we are, right now. I admire Brett for what she had to overcome the past few months. She is a damn good paramedic and I would never put her in a position to lose that. I also know that I wouldn't let anything happen to her," Casey admitted putting his hands in his pocket. "We have been getting closer and I hope that it doesn't stop."
"Just watch yourself. I don't want to lose either of you, I also don't want a repeat of the days of you and Dawson."
"Oh, believe me, Chief, Brett is nothing like Dawson, other than, they were both great at their jobs. I don't plan on getting hurt this time, and I don't plan on hurting her," Casey explained. It was true, he was falling hard for the PIC, and he was glad that directly they were close friends first. Although, taking things slow with her was starting to make him take more cold showers than he had in years.
"Good. Now get out of here, so I can call Med and Intelligence," Boden ordered.
Casey left the office in search of Brett and found her in the bunk room sitting on her bed. He stood before her and held out his hand towards her and led her to his office.
Now they sat on his bed in his office looking over pictures of her baby sister. He was honest with the Chief; he wasn't sure where Brett and he stood, but he did like where it was headed. Before she had accepted the Chaplain's proposal he had been ready to ask her out. It took them another year to get to this place again. It took them losing Otis, Foster leaving, and this stalker situation to make him realize how precious life was. He wanted Sylvie Brett in his life and more than just his professional aspect of it.
"Maybe next time, you want to go to Rockford, you invite me along. I wouldn't mind getting away for a while," Casey suggested as he looked over at the stunning blue-eyed paramedic that made his hands clammy and his heart beat faster.
"You want to go to Rockford with me?"
"Yeah, and we can stay at that Bed and Breakfast if you like or somewhere else," he stammered realizing what he had just said.
"Together?"
"I can be a perfect gentleman, Sylvie," he murmured taking the step he needed to do months ago.
"What if I don't want you to be," she admitted as she looked over at him with a smile. "A gentleman, I mean."
"Sylvie," Casey mumbled as they began to move their heads closer together as their hands were joined together on her cellphone.
"Matt," she stuttered before someone knocked on his office door.
They jumped back from each other and looked up to the door to see Ritter standing there with a package in his hand.
Brett's walls went up instantly as she shivered from what Ritter was holding. She didn't want it to be another gift for her.
"Come on in, Ritter," Casey said as he waved in the recruit.
"Sorry to interrupt, but this came for you, Brett," Ritter stated handing the box over.
"Thanks, Ritter," Casey replied taking the box out of his hands. Casey took the box and set it on his desk. He looked over the box that was about fifteen inches by twenty. There was no indication written on the box on where it came from. Casey grabbed the scissors from inside his top desk drawer.
He could feel Brett's eyes on him from behind as he cut open the box. Inside was tons of styrofoam balls and as he dug inside, he finally felt the object and pulled it out. He pushed the box aside and put the item on his desk.
"A snowglobe," Brett questioned as she moved beside Casey.
"A snowglobe of Chicago," he replied as he looked at the beautiful skyline of Chicago. The base of the globe was silver and showed the skyline with landmarks of the city inside of it. It was beautiful and something Brett could see herself buying at one point.
"Well, this isn't creepy at all," she stated as she picked up the globe then noticed the color covering the city. It wasn't snowing inside like other snowglobes, it was covering the city in red liquid.
"Is that supposed to be blood," Casey wondered as she took the globe from her.
"Does this mean he is going to cover the city in blood, oh god," Brett cried as Casey put the globe on his desk and took her into his arms. "I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."
"I can't do this," she wept. "Why me?"
Casey didn't have any answers for her, but he was going to get to the bottom of this. Before he could do anything, the bells went off and Brett and Casey pulled away from each other. She wiped her eyes as the announcement went over the intercom.
"Truck 81, Squad 3, Ambulance 61, Vehicle in Water, Lynn White Drive-"
"Time to get to work," Brett announced as she started for the door.
"We could call in another ambulance," Casey suggested grabbing her hand. "Stay here."
"No, I have to do this, Casey. If I stayed here, I am letting this guy win. We have a job to do," Brett replied reaching over to kiss him on the cheek. "But thank you for looking out for me."
With that said she turned around and ran towards the bay. He followed her and suddenly the crew of FIrehouse 51 was out doing their job. No one noticed the man standing on the side of the building watching the crew disappear down the street. And when he entered the firehouse, no one noticed him disappear inside.