Matt sat in the waiting room of Med, his turn out coat abandoned in the chair next to him. The energy in the room was hectic, chaotic even. Not too far away, Severide sat with his arm wrapped around a panicked Stella. Herrmann was asking the desk nurse for updates every five seconds accompanied by Cruz while Ritter and Gallo shared a hushed conversation. Mouch was seated next to Chief Boden, both of them sharing the sae far off look. All of firehouse 51's second shift was there, waiting anxiously.
As Matt watched his friends and colleagues worry, all he could think was that all of this was his fault.
…3 hours earlier
…Sylvie sat at the common room dining table with Cruz, they were discussing his ideas for future marketing for the slammigan. She listened intently, she had been a part of the project since the beginning.
They were interrupted by the bells ringing, "Truck 81, Engine 51, Squad 3, Ambulance 61. Multi-vehicle accident. East Main and Mulwood." Everyone sprung into action, heading to the rigs. Mullins, her most recent partner, was already in the driver's seat when Sylvie arrived, so she jumped in and they followed squad 3 to the accident.
When they arrived the scene was buzzing. There were people everywhere, some from involved cars, others just trying to find out what was going on. Matt scanned the damage, assessing in his head. His focus was immediately pulled to a car with the entire front folded in on itself. He motioned for Severide to follow him. There was a victim in the drivers seat that was unconscious and had a gushing head wound, they needed to get him out as soon as possible.
Sylvie watched her captain's next move, trying to guess if would need her assistance or not. Assuming her duties as PIC, she had instructed Mullins to check on the victims from the fender bender at the back of the crash, they just had a few scrapes and bruises that she knew she could handle on her own.
Matt turned to Severide, "We aren't going to be able to get him out of the front."
Severide nodded and turned to Cruz, instructing him to garb Brett and a backboard.
Matt reached the back of the SUV, lifting the trunk. When he opened it he found duffle bags, duffle bags full of money. "Severide! We've got a situation…" He said, turning around. But before he could even realize what was going on, a blur of blonde hair rushed in front of him. There was a loud pop and the figure in front of him screamed, falling back.
"Brett!" Someone called and Matt jumped into action, the initial shock wearing off. He lowered Sylvie gently to the ground, "Mullins get over here!" Everyone was rushing around him, but his focus was entirely on her. The bottom left corner of her shirt was dark red and Matt quickly discarded his dirty gloves to apply pressure.
He checked her pulse and felt a slow thud against his fingers. At least she was alive. "Sylvie?" He asked in a panicked voice. "Mullins! Help!" He screamed, unaware that she was already nearing them.
There were other paramedics as well and Matt was pulled away, forced to watch her bleed from afar. After what seemed like forever, they had her stabilized enough to move. Matt followed them, insisting that he ride with her. Once they pulled away from the scene, he wrapped his hand around hers and fought back the tears. Matt wasn't usually an emotional guy, but Sylvie Brett, the woman he had been in love with for months, was shot.
…Matt's knee bounced as he waited. He still wasn't entirely sure what had happened. All he knew is that Sylvie was shot and he froze. He was rendered useless, he couldn't move. Hell, he could barely breathe. He watched her bleed from the bullet that she had taken for him.
It wasn't hard to put together. Obviously the victim that they were trying to get to had been involved in a robbery, but he wasn't expecting there to be a second guilty party. Matt had found the money, Matt called Severide over, Matt was the one with the gun pointed at him. But Sylvie jumped in front of him.
When Hallie died he would have traded places with her in a heartbeat, to save her. When Gabby was a candidate, he was terrified every call of him coming out of whatever building was burning and her not. He would give anything to go back in time and make sure that Sylvie was far away from the danger that he didn't even know was coming. He saved people, it was his thing, but she had saved him and now she could possibly pay for it with her life.
Herrmann walked back to the group looking defeated, he had struck out on finding any new information once again. He sat down next to Matt, leaning forward onto his knees so they were at the same eye level. "It wasn't your fault." He said.
Matt clenched his jaw, Herrmann said that like he hadn't spent the last three hours trying to convince himself. However, every time he comes back to the same conclusion: the bullet in Sylvie's stomach was meant for him. Despite his internal feelings, Matt nodded, wanting to spare himself the continued conversation.
It wasn't a secret that he loved the thrill of fire fighting, everyday was different and everyday brought a new challenge, but he had fallen into a pattern of expecting the next day to arrive. You would think that at this point he wouldn't assume that everyone would make it home everyday, but Matt and his foolish optimism forgot that some days. Today was a terrible reminder of that and he was convinced that if Sylvie didn't make it, that his world would in fact stop turning. If there was no Sylvie, there was no tomorrow.
The realization hit him like an 18-wheeler. He had spent the last few months waiting for the right moment to tell her, ever since she came back to Chicago. There were so many times that he almost did: Cruz's wedding, the night that she opened the letter from her birth mother, the day he drove her to Rockford. But everytime he convinced himself it was too soon and that he didn't need that dropped on her on top of everything else, especially now that Julie was gone.
Maybe it was selfish or inconsiderate, but Matt vowed to himself that he was going to tell her the next time that he got the chance. If he got the chance.
Several agonizingly long hours later, he looked up to see Dr. Halstead walking towards him. He stood immediately. "Hey guys,"Will sighed out, glancing at all the anxious looking firefighters. "Sylvie is going to be fine, they removed the bullet with little complication. She's been sleeping off the anesthetic for a few hours now and Matt, she's asking to see you." He explained. Matt's head shot up at the sound of his name. "You can follow me."
Without hesitation, Matt followed Will to her room, shamelessly rushing inside. He stopped at the sight in front of him, there were tubes coming out of her arm and several monitors attached to her. She gave him a week smile, "You're okay." She said.
Sylvie let out a breath when she saw him, he was fine. Even though she was very aware of the fact that she kept him from getting shot, she had no clue what happened after she passed out just a few moments later.
"Yeah Sylvie, I'm fine." He scoffed, moving to stand by her side. "What were you thinking?"
Sylvie shrugged to the best of her ability, "He was going to shoot you."
Matt shook his head and grabbed her hand, "He shot you. Sylvie you could've-"
"But I didn't." She said, squeezing his hand. "Look at me Matt," She ordered and Matt looked at her, eyes glassy. Sylvie's heart leaped out of her chest his broken expression. "I'm fine."
"If you had-I would never have been able to forgive myself." He admitted, gripping her hand for dear life. "Please, next time let me take it."
Sylvie laughed, "Contrary to popular belief, you aren't bulletproof, Matt Casey."
Matt smiled, and leaned to run his fingers through her hair. "Neither are you, Sylvie Brett."
"I don't know, I think I handled it pretty well." Matt laughed along with her brushed his thumb over her cheek.
Sylvie's breath caught in her throat at his actions. She realized that taking a bullet for the man you loved was probably not the most effective way to convey your feelings, but she was praying that it worked. "I need you to promise me that you will never do anything that stupid again."
Sylvie sighed, taking a leap of faith. "I will never promise not to protect you if I can."
Matt's heart skipped a beat at her words and his eyes flickered between her eyes and her lips. Throwing caution to the win he leaned down to press his lips to hers, it was gentle ad perfect and better than anything he could ever have imagined. He pulled away slowly, beaming at her eyes fluttering open. "Did that convince you?" He smirked.
Sylvie cinched her eyebrows together, "I don't know, I might need a little more persuasion." Matt oblige, lowering his lips to hers again, this time with a little more passion. Sylvie reached up and threaded her fingers in his hair and Matt sat on her bed to steady himself, his hand resting on her cheek. When they finally came up for air, Matt leaned his forehead against hers. He reached up and pressed s chaste kiss to it before sitting up. "If I knew getting shot was what it was going to take to get you to kiss me, I would've gotten Halstead to hit me with a through and through a long time ago." She joked.
Matt chuckled but shit her a fake glare, "No, never ever again, I can't take it." Their gazes locked once again and Matt uttered the three words that he had been thinking for months now. "I love you, Sylvie."
Sylvie grinned and reached up, pulling him down to her. "I love you too." She said, before kissing him with everything she had in her. Which wasn't much, she had taken a bullet for him and she was sure that he was never going to let her forget it.
…A/N: This is my first attempt at writing Brettsey, so tell me what you think! I love them together so much and I cannot wait for season 9. Thank you for reading!