Hey everyone, thank you so much for the reviews! This story is almost finished but I am working on another Brett and Casey story. Please continue to leave reviews and let me know what you think of this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
CHAPTER 17
The wake ended and Sylvie, Matt, Elaine, and Evan were all at Elaine's house. Elaine and Evan had gone to bed while Sylvie and Matt were in her room. It was raining outside and Matt knew that Sylvie would want to go out.
"It's raining outside." Matt smiled.
"I know." Sylvie softly whispered.
"Do you wanna go sit outside on the swing?" he asked.
Sylvie smiled.
"I'd like that." she replied.
Matt grabbed the blanket off of Sylvie's bed and they headed downstairs to go sit outside. They were wearing their pajamas, with Matt wearing a grey long sleeve shirt and Sylvie wearing a flannel jacket. Matt sat down on the swing and then Sylvie positioned herself so that she was laying on Matt's lap. He ran his fingers through her hair. She was worn out. Her body needed to rest and she kept pushing through but tonight, her body just shut down. After she fell asleep, Matt gently and carefully carried her upstairs to her bedroom and placed her on the bed. He crawled into the bed next to her and held her. The next morning, Sylvie woke up to find that Matt was already up and ready.
"Why didn't you wake me up?" Sylvie asked.
"It's only 9. You have plenty of time to get a shower and get ready." Matt said.
Sylvie got up and grabbed the black dress that she had packed, kissed Matt, and then went to take a shower. After getting ready, she and Matt headed downstairs.
"Your mom and brother already left. They wanted to say a private goodbye to your dad before the service." Matt said.
"Can we go? I'd like to say goodbye too." Sylvie softly said.
Matt nodded his head and then they left. They arrived at the funeral home and greeted Sylvie's mom and brother.
"Hey sweetheart." Elaine said as she tried to hide her tears.
"Hey, mom." Sylvie said.
Matt, Elaine and Evan left the room to give Sylvie time to say goodbye to her father in private. Sylvie walked over to the casket and started crying. After she composed herself, she began to say goodbye to her father.
"Daddy, I miss you so much. I don't know how to say goodbye to you or what to do. You will never get to walk me down the aisle or give me away at my wedding whenever that will be. I love you, daddy." Sylvie said as she said her final goodbye.
Matt came back in the room to check on Sylvie, who was walking towards Matt.
"How are you?" Matt asked.
"I'm hanging in there. I'm just so happy you're here with me. I'm not sure what I would do without you." Sylvie replied.
Matt gave her a kiss.
"Everyone is gonna start coming in soon but I'm not going anywhere." Matt said.
"Thank you." Sylvie whispered.
Sylvie and Matt went to find Elaine and Evan and to double check with the funeral director on how everything is supposed to go for the funeral. It was 10:00 and one by one, people were coming into the funeral home for the service. Sylvie saw her family come in along with her family from 51 and it brought her to tears. By 11:30 a.m., everyone had arrived for the funeral service. The pastor began to speak and afterwards, everyone headed to the cemetery for the burial. After arriving at the cemetery, the pastor said a few more words and then Sylvie's father was buried. Elaine and Evan headed home to be meet with a few family members, while Sylvie and Matt stayed back.
"Sylvie, there is no need for you to come back to work unless you want too. Take as much time as you need and don't worry about a thing." Boden said.
Sylvie gave Boden a hug.
"Thanks, Chief." Sylvie softly answered.
"Hey kiddo, Cindy and I are always around if you need anything." Herrmann said.
"I appreciate that." Sylvie half smiled.
She gave Herrmann a hug, followed by Cindy.
"Call me if you need me, day or night. Same goes with Kelly. We love you." Stella said.
"I love you guys, too." Sylvie smiled as she gave Stella a hug.
"If you ever need a friend to talk too about this, I'm here. You know, I went through this not that long ago, so I completely understand how you feel. Just remember, we all love you and are here for you." Kelly said.
His words hit hard. It wasn't that long ago that Kelly's father, Benny Severide, had passed away. Kelly had gone into a dark state of mind at that time and if it weren't for Stella, Kelly wasn't sure what would have happened.
"I know and I appreciate it. I'm just gonna take it day by day." Sylvie said.
"I love you, Brett." Kelly said as he hugged her.
"I love you, too." Sylvie said as she returned his hug.
"Hey bestie, we miss you. Chloe sends her love and she wanted me to give you this. We both love you." Joe said.
"Tell Chloe I said thank you and I love you both as well." Sylvie said as she gave her ex boyfriend a hug.
Joe returned the hug.
"You have a whole family at 51 waiting on you and well, I miss my bestie. Chout and the others are alright but I really miss you." Emily giggled.
Sylvie giggled. She could only imagine how the other guys filling in for her were driving Emily crazy. She gave her best friend a hug.
"Trudy sends her love and apologizes that she couldn't be here today. We're here for you." Mouch said.
Sylvie hugged Mouch.
"Tell Trudy that I said thank you and I understand." Sylvie replied.
"Tuesday misses her favorite person. She's been sleeping on your bunk at the house, so I apologize for the dog hair." Ritter laughed.
"I miss her too and thank you for coming." Sylvie said.
Ritter gave her a hug, followed by Gallo, Capp, and Tony.
"Thank you guys for coming today. It really means a lot too me." Sylvie said.
"We're just a phone call away." Boden said as he and the others gave her another hug before leaving.
Sylvie said one final goodbye to her father and then left with Matt to go home. Sylvie and Matt were greeted by Sylvie's aunts, uncles, and cousins, some of whom she hasn't seen in years. Everyone had grabbed a plate of food, including Sylvie and Matt, and were all mingling with each other. After a few hours of visiting one another, her family left and Elaine, Evan, Sylvie, and Matt were the only ones left. Evan took Matt outside to feed the horses to let Elaine and Sylvie talk.
"Sweetheart, I want you to go back to work on Monday." Elaine said.
"Mom, I've got plenty of time off. I don't mind." Sylvie said.
"But I do. I can tell you miss work and your brother got medically discharged from the Army, so he's gonna stay here and help me." Elaine said.
Evan had been medically discharged from the Army for a few months now and decided to come back to Fowlerton to care for his parents.
"Are you sure you don't need my help?" Sylvie asked.
"Sweetie, listen to me. I love you and your dad loved you very much, but before he took a turn for the worse, he and I had talked about what would happen if something happened to either of us. Evan loves living in Fowlerton and you love Chicago. Your dad was very proud of you for doing what you love and for being you. He told me he didn't want you staying here, not because we don't love you but because we know how much Chicago means to you. Evan and I will call you once a day." Elaine explained.
"I'll go back home to Chicago but you and Evan better call me like you said." Sylvie said.
Elaine chuckled and agreed and then gave her daughter a hug. Evan and Matt came back into the house. Elaine went upstairs to go to bed. It had been a very exhausting and heartbreaking day. Evan went upstairs and hung out in his room, leaving Sylvie and Matt alone in the rest of the house. They were in
"So, I talked to my mom and she wants me to go back to work on Monday." Sylvie told Matt.
"Are you up for that?" Matt asked.
"I think so. I mean, I hate to sit around when I can be working." Sylvie said.
"I know the feeling." Matt said.
Sylvie looked at Matt and smiled.
"You know, I can't wait until we get home. I just want a date night where it's just the two of us and no one else." Sylvie teased.
"Hmm...I think I can arrange that." Matt teased.
He kissed her and they cuddled on the bed.
"So, when do you wanna leave?" Matt casually asked.
"I was thinking early in the morning. It's about a three hour drive and I wanna spend the day with you, if you want." Sylvie said.
Matt grinned.
"I like the sound of that." Matt teased with a whisper.
Sylvie yawned, letting Matt know she was tired. He kissed her and she returned the kiss. They were in a full on make out session for a few minutes until Matt pulled away.
"What was that for?" Matt teased.
"For everything and for putting up with my mood swings." Sylvie half smiled.
"Come here." Matt said as he pulled her close to him.
She snuggled up next to him with her back against his stomach. His arms wrapped around her and he held her close to him. The next morning, they got up around 5:00 a.m. and grabbed a shower, one at a time, and then got dressed. Elaine and Evan were already up and feeding the horses when Sylvie and Matt came downstairs with their suitcases and Matt took them outside and put them in the truck. Elaine and Evan came back inside and greeted Sylvie.
"Hey sweetheart." Elaine said with a smile.
"Hey mom." Sylvie said with a smile as she hugged her mother.
"Hey sis." Evan said.
Sylvie gave him a hug.
"Hey, so uh, I'm gonna need you to take care of mom for us. I have to go back to work in Chicago, but you and mom have to call at least once a day or once a week." Sylvie said.
"You got it." Evan chuckled.
Matt came back in and everyone hugged each other and said their goodbyes before Matt and Sylvie left. Matt and Sylvie were on their way back to Chicago when they decided to stop at McDonald's and get something to eat to go and then finally headed home. They finally arrived at the apartment and after parking the truck, they got out and Matt carried their suitcases upstairs to their apartment while Sylvie walked up to open the door.
"Ah, it's so good to be home." Sylvie laughed as she sat down on the couch.
Matt sat the suitcases down and walked over to her.
"It sure is." Matt chuckled.
"So, I was thinking that maybe we could have that first date that we never had." Sylvie teased.
"Now that sounds like a plan, but first, let's just get some sleep." Matt yawned.
"That sounds great." Sylvie chuckled.
Matt got up and headed his bedroom while Sylvie stayed on the couch.
"Am I not going to have my cuddle buddy come with me?" Matt joked.
Sylvie let out a small giggle.
"Well, I wouldn't want to let you down." Sylvie joked.
She got up and walked over to Matt and walked with him to his bedroom. They crawled into the bed and cuddled. Several hours later, Matt quietly got out of the bed without waking Sylvie up. While he was in the kitchen cooking breakfast, there was a knock on the door. Matt walked over to answer the door.
"Hey man, how's Brett?" Kelly asked.
"She's sleeping. We're gonna be back at work tomorrow." Matt said.
"A lot has happened while you guys have been gone. Guess who showed up?" Kelly said.
By the look on Kelly's face, Matt could tell that something was wrong.
"Let me guess, Grissom?" Matt asked.
"Yeah and that's only the beginning. So, my time at OFI ended and I'm back at 51, but now Grissom is telling Boden that he needs me at OFI for the next year because of the back logs of cases that OFI has." Kelly said.
"You're kidding. Can Grissom do that?" Matt asked.
"I don't know. Mouch is looking into that. If I end up at OFI, I will quit." Kelly said.
"That's crazy but can you really just give up the CFD?" Matt asked.
"As much as it will kill me to do that, it's either that or go to OFI for the next year and I can't do that. If Grissom thinks I'm gonna follow in my dad's footsteps, he's got another thing coming." Kelly said.
"Maybe Mouch can find something to help you out." Matt said.
Just then Kelly's phone rang. It was Mouch.
"Hello?" Kelly asked.
"Hey, Severide. Can you meet me at 51? I may have something." Mouch said over the phone.
"Sure. I'll be there in ten minutes." Kelly said.
They said their goodbyes and hung up the phone.
"That was Mouch. He wants to meet me at 51. He thinks that he might have something." Kelly explained.
Matt and Kelly said their goodbyes and Kelly left. Sylvie woke up and decided to go hang out with Stella and Emily for a few hours.
"Hey, Foster just texted me. She and Stella wanna get together for a few hours. Is that alright?" Sylvie asked Matt as she walked into the living room.
Matt walked over to her and kissed her.
"You never have to ask. Go have fun. While you're doing that, I'll figure out what our official first date will be." Matt said.
"Hmm...surprise me." Sylvie said.
"I think I will." Matt teased.
They kissed and then Sylvie headed out to meet her best friends for lunch. This gave Matt the perfect opportunity to plan his date with Sylvie.