A/N: I realized Friday that I uploaded the wrong version of the last chapter, so make you check out the ending of it - it may be different than you remember. As always, thanks for all the reviews, favorites, follows, or just reading along! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Feel free to let me know what you think!
Another two weeks passed of Brett going to work and Casey, despite being allowed to do light work, being completely restless. After last shift, they'd had the department Christmas Party at Molly's. Two days later, finally, six weeks had passed since Matt's surgery, and the doctors cleared him to return to active duty. His first morning back, Sylvie was not feeling well. She didn't know why, but her stomach was tied up in knots.
"Babe, are you feeling alright?" Matt asked her.
"I'll be fine," she replied. "I'm just a little nauseous. Probably just nerves."
He raised an eyebrow. Why was she nervous?
"It's silly," she said, shaking her head. "In my head, I have no reasons that I would be feeling nervous, but my stomach begs to differ. Maybe I'm just afraid of you getting hurt again."
"You're sure you're not coming down with something?" he asked, putting his hand against her forehead. She didn't appear to be running a temperature. Before she could answer, though, she bolted. Soon after, he could hear her vomiting in the bathroom.
When she came back out, Matt had put on his coat and grabbed his bag.
"After that, I think I should stay home today," she said.
He nodded his agreement. "If you need anything, let me know." He pulled her into a hug and kissed her on the forehead. "I mean it."
"I will," she agreed. "Have a good day and be careful." She gave him her best serious look and wagged a finger at him.
"Okay," he chuckled and pulled her back into a hug. "I love you."
She gave him a quick squeeze. "I love you too."
They parted, then, and Matt turned toward the door. Sylvie was going to sit on the couch, but another wave sent her running to the bathroom. Matt wished he could stay home with her, but he knew that wouldn't make anything better, and he was more likely to catch it - whatever 'it' was. "Darn stomach bugs," he muttered, opening the door, and heading to work.
A few hours and a number of trips to the bathroom later, Sylvie's nausea finally began to subside, and it was replaced with hunger. She'd probably thrown up everything that was in her stomach and then some. She looked at her watch. Thirty minutes had passed since her last vomiting spell. Part of her wanted to wait another half hour, just to make sure, but a larger part of her just wanted some food before she started getting cranky. She decided to go make herself some toast. At least that would be easy on the stomach.
She ate slowly, afraid the two pieces of buttered bread would come back up. Thankfully, they stayed down. She was still pretty hungry, so she went back to the kitchen for another couple pieces and some peanut butter.
When she opened the jar, the smell punched her in the face. She shook her head to clear it. Had the peanut butter gone rancid? She took another sniff. No, it was just strong. Has it always been that strong? She furrowed her brow, then a realization hit her. "Oh, pickles," she groaned. The peanut butter was abandoned on the counter as she grabbed her jacket and keys and walked out the door.
Firehouse 51 was having an average day. Without distractions, Matt had just enough time in between most of their calls to do his paperwork. Around noon, he decided to call and check on Sylvie. He listened while the phone rang and rang and rang then went to voicemail. She must be taking a nap.
He left a message: "Hey beautiful. I'm just calling to see how you're doing. Everyone here says to tell you they hope you're feeling better. Foster got paired with McCaully, so she says that you'd better not be sick long. Anyway, lunch is probably going to be ready soon, and I'm sure you don't want an hour long message, so I should wrap it up. I hope you're feeling better soon. If there's anything you need at all, just call me. I love you."
He double checked that his phone was on vibrate, then returned it to his pocket and headed to the common area for some lunch.
Sylvie was driving home when her phone rang. It was Matt's ringtone. He was probably just calling to check on her. She let it go to voicemail and drove the rest of the way home. She'd check the message when she got inside.
After dropping her keys on the table and hanging up her jacket, Sylvie grabbed her phone and the small pharmacy bag. She listened to Matt's message on the way to the bathroom. She smiled. He was so sweet. She sent him a text: sorry I missed you. Feeling better. Should be able to come back next shift. Tell Foster I say sorry. I love you, too. See you in the morning.
That would have to do. Hopefully they'd be too busy for him to call back. She didn't want to talk to him until he got home if this was going to turn out how she thought it would.
Two long minutes later, her phone timer went off. She swallowed hard and let herself look at the small stick on the counter. "Oh my goodness," she whispered. She double checked the key on the back of the box, comparing it with the indicator on the stick.
She put her hand over her mouth and a huge smile crossed her face. A spurt of laughter escaped her. Now, she really couldn't wait for Matt to get home.
Truck 81 pulled back into the station after a call that came in during lunch and lasted most of the afternoon. Casey hurried to scrub down his gear, then retreated to his office to do the paperwork. Hopefully he would have time for a quick nap before another call came in.
When he got to his desk, he realized he hadn't heard back from Sylvie yet. He checked his phone and saw her text. He smiled and sent a quick response: glad to hear it. See you in the morning :)
He was met with a quick reply. She just sent him a smiley face back.
Severide knocked on the door, and Matt looked up from his phone.
"What's the smirk for?"
"You should see yourself when you're talking to Brett," Severide replied. "You're grinning like a kid on Christmas."
"Next year you're going to have a kid on Christmas."
"What are you talking about? I've had Kidd on Christmas for the last five years."
Casey sighed. "Smart ass."
Severide laughed. "Got a question for you."
"Shoot."
"How crazy do you wanna get for your bachelor party?"
Casey shrugged. "It doesn't have to be anything too crazy. As long as Sylvie is still willing to marry me at the end of it. . ."
The bells interrupted him, and the friends ran to their rigs.
Sylvie ordered herself a pizza for supper. While she was waiting for it to arrive, she called the doctor's office where she and Matt had their physicals scheduled in two weeks. She talked to one of the nurses and asked if there was anything she needed to do differently in the next two weeks. The nurse advised her accordingly and said she would tell the doctor about needed a referral to an OB-GYN.
When the pizza arrived, she ate a few slices then put the rest in the fridge. She took stock of the food in there. She had a good selection of healthy options. She would definitely be needing them. She smiled. This was really happening. She just hoped she'd be over the morning sickness for the wedding in two months.
The rest of the night at 51 passed quietly. Casey was able to finish most of his paperwork by ten that night. He had just laid down on his bunk when there was a knock at the door.
"Come in," Casey called, as he sat up.
Kidd came in. When she saw Casey on the bed, she said "Oh, sorry, Captain. I didn't realize you were - "
Casey cut her off. "Don't worry about it. I just got here. What can I do for you, Kidd?"
"I was just wondering if you've heard from Brett at all today. I texted her before that call around lunch to see how she was feeling. No response."
"Oh, uh, yeah," Casey rubbed his brow. "I must have forgotten to tell everyone when we got back. She said she's feeling better, should be back next shift."
Kidd grinned. "Good. Place isn't the same without her." She started to back out the door.
"Hey, Kidd," Casey said.
When she poked her head back around the corner, her eyes were watering.
"Something you want to talk about?"
Kidd shook her head, but didn't turn to leave.
"Because I get the feeling you wouldn't have waited until basically everyone else was asleep to ask me about Sylvie."
Stella sat down in Matt's desk chair. He was right. "I need to know something."
He gestured for her to continue.
"Kelly tells me not to worry about it, and it's probably just the hormones talkin' - " she paused. "That accident - Would've it gone differently if it weren't me?"
A look flashed across his face that was a combination of surprise and confusion. "What do you mean?"
"You rarely partner with me. Usually, you take Gallo and send me with Mouch or one of the engine guys. The morning of the accident, you sent Gallo with engine and kept me with you. At all of the calls today, you did the same thing. Do you have a problem with me staying on? Is me being pregnant an issue?"
"Of course not," he said. "I meant it when I told you that I would respect what you said you were comfortable with. If Sylvie were in your position, I -" he paused, thinking about whether or not what he was about to say was true. "When Gabby found out she was pregnant, she didn't tell me right away. I was going through some other stuff at the time, but I wish she would have told me sooner." He shook his head. There was no need to go down that rabbit hole. " Anyway, she was the one who wanted to move to arson. If she would have told me she wanted to stay on truck, I would have let her. And someday, when Sylvie and I decide to have kids, I'll be okay with her staying here as long as she wants."
"You're sure?" Stella asked.
"Absolutely," he assured her. "I'm keeping you with me so I know that you're protected. Losing a baby -" he took a deep breath - six years later, it was easier to talk about, but a person never quite got over something like that. "Losing a baby is an awful thing for anyone to go through. I want to do my part in preventing anyone else from having to experience that."
Stella got up from the chair and sat on the bed beside Casey. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and he put a hand on her back. They were only like that for half a minute until someone cleared their throat in the office doorway.
"Am I interrupting something?" Severide asked.
Casey patted Kidd's back as she retracted her arms.
"Thanks for having my back, Captain," she said, leaving his office and giving her husband a kiss on the way by.
Severide returned the kiss from his wife, then turned back to his friend. "You good?"
"Yeah," Casey responded. "How much of that did you hear?"
"I got most of it. She's been worried about it since you got hurt."
Casey shrugged. "No reason to be, but what she's going through is something I'll never understand."
Severide shook his head. "If she were under anyone else, I don't think I'd be comfortable with her staying on active duty. I almost lost her once, Casey. That's once too much."
"I know," Matt responded. "And you know that I'd do just about anything to keep my people safe."
"I know," Severide replied. He walked over and put a hand on his friend's shoulder. "Thanks, Casey."
With that, Severide returned to his office and Casey laid back down.
All this talk about pregnant women had him thinking. He wanted kids more than anything. Sylvie had said she wanted to wait until after the wedding, and he respected that, but maybe she'd be open to starting to try now. Maybe he'd ask when he got home.
He closed his eyes. It was so easy to picture her with child - with their child; her holding their baby, the three of them as a family - a family that couldn't be taken away from him; a family that wouldn't run away from him. The image was so beautiful. She would make such a great mom. A smile danced across his lips as he drifted off to sleep.