Chapter 8

Sylvie woke up with her head pressed up against Gabby's shoulder, the brunette's arm around her body. She looked up to see that Gabby was already awake and the brunette smiled down at her. Sylvie forced a smile back and snuggled deeper.

"You got some sleep last night. I'm proud of you, girl."

In reality, Sylvie had cried herself to sleep and had only gotten about two hours but it was better than nothing. "How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours."

Sylvie groaned, still exhausted. Gabby hesitated before continuing. "You know we have to get you checked out today, okay? Stella already called ahead and Natalie's working. She's going to fit you in around 1."

Sylvie squeezed her eyes shut as if trying to block out the world. Gabby stroked Sylvie's hair, whispering. "I know."

After a few moments of silence, Gabby shifted slightly, looking down at the blonde. "Are you ready to get up? Get some breakfast?"

Sylvie nodded although she had no intention of eating. Slowly Gabby helped her up and out of bed, dragging her into the kitchen. Stella was still fast asleep on the couch and it was assumed that Chilli and Shay were asleep in their rooms too. Sylvie sat down at the counter as Gabby started a pot of coffee.

"So… Am I going to get a real answer this morning or a fake one?"

Gabby took a sip of her coffee, looking at Sylvie seriously. Sylvie bit her lip and looked over to make sure it was just her and Gabby awake. "What do you want to know?"

"How are you doing? Really doing?"

Sylvie shrugged, accepting the coffee from Gabby and a few painkillers. "I don't know." She whispered. "Every time I think about it, I just, I feel… dirty."

Gabby frowned sympathetically, reaching across to take Sylvie's hand. "I know."

"What can I do to help?"

Sylvie smiled slightly. "You're doing it. All of you. In fact, you're doing too much. I don't deserve to be taking up this much of your time."

"Honey, you deserve everything. We know that we can walk away at any time but that's not going to happen. You're our friend, we care about you, we love you, and we'll do whatever we can to help you heal."

"I don't think I'm ever going to heal."

Gabby squeezed Sylvie's hand. "You're stronger than you know."

A groan from the couch interrupted them and they looked over to see Stella sit up and stretch.

"I smell coffee." Stella sat up and walked over to the counter leaning against it as Gabby poured her a mug.

Stella took a gulp of her coffee, savoring it as if it were the only thing keeping her going. To be honest, it probably was. "When did you ladies get up?"

"About half an hour ago." Gabby shrugged.

Stella shot her a glance. "You know you could have woken us, right? Are Shay and Chilli still sleeping?"

Gabby nodded. "We figured we'd let you guys sleep and we'd overdose in caffeine."

Sylvie smirked at the comment, despite it being a little inappropriate. "It's working."

That was enough for Stella and she smiled sympathetically at the blonde. "As long as there's sugar in that, I'm happy enough."

"Does Stevia count?"

Stella frowned but let it go. "One more coffee then a lot of water, okay? Unless you want to eat something?"

Sylvie shook her head instantly which didn't take either brunette by surprise. "Let's see if Natalie has any suggestions today, okay? Maybe she can prescribe you with something to ease the nausea."

"I don't think that's going to help, but thanks." Sylvie took her mug and made her way over to the sofa, flipping through the channels before landing on Good Morning America.

Gabby and Stella exchanged a glance but neither said anything, eventually joining Sylvie on the sofa. A couple of hours later and both Shay and Chilli emerged from their rooms, looking clearly well-rested for once.

"Good morning, sleepy heads."

Shay groaned, laying down on the couch and stealing Gabby's coffee. "Ugh. How long have y'all been up?"

"She's 'Texan' now?" Sylvie smirked, looking over at Gabby.

Gabby laughed. "She grew up in Baton Rouge. Her accent comes out when she's drunk or un-caffeinated."

Shay tried to throw a throw pillow at Gabby but failed miserably, eventually giving up and finishing the rest of Gabby's coffee.

Chilli grabbed three mugs- one for Gabby, another for Shay and one for herself before settling back down on the couch. Sylvie was resting up against Stella but made sure that Gabby was within reach.

After fifteen or so minutes of watching the "news", Shay spoke up, brushing a piece of hair behind Sylvie's ear.

"You know what we need to do today, right?"

Sylvie sat up properly, barely acknowledging the physical pain as the emotional pain was much worse. "Does it have to be today?" She whispered.

Gabby made eye-contact, nodding sympathetically. "Yeah, sweetie, it has to be today."

"Hey." Chilli nudged Sylvie gently. "Don't you miss riding the rig with me?"

Sylvie couldn't help but smirk. "With your driving skills? Yeah, not so much."

Chilli nudged her, glad she was joking around.

Shay clapped her hands together as if getting everyone organized. "Alright, shower, dress, breakfast, and we'll be on our way."

Sylvie looked up at Gabby whom nodded for her to go ahead and shower first. As much as she hated that Dawson had been through something similar, she was slightly glad that she had someone who knew what she was feeling.

Sylvie headed off to the shower silently after grabbing some clothes from her room. She showered as fast as she could although she could have stayed in there for hours. Changing into a CFD top and sweater and a pair of sweatpants, she let her hair dry naturally and didn't bother putting on any makeup.

Once they were all showered, changed and fed minus Brett, Stella took a hold of Sylvie's hand and lead her down to the car. She noticed how diligently Sylvie watched as Chilli locked the door and made a mental note to talk to the others about putting in some security cameras and maybe some extra locks.

Gabby and Stella sat on either side of her in the back seat and it didn't go unnoticed that she had a death grip on each of their hands. When they arrived, Sylvie made no attempt to move despite the others getting out of the car. Shay tried first but failed miserably, Chilli didn't even attempt knowing how stubborn her partner could be at times, Gabby made some headway with at least some eye-contact, and by the time Stella took the lead, Sylvie was almost ready.

"You got this." Stella whispered, holding out her hand for Sylvie. Sylvie hesitated but eventually took the offered hand, grabbing on to Gabby's with her other hand the second she was out of the car.

Luckily, Maggie and April had organized a private room for Sylvie, complete with a private entrance so she didn't have to walk through emergency. Shay had called ahead and knew the way so she lead everyone down the hallway and into the private room. Sylvie, knowing the drill, knew to climb up on to the bed and position herself as comfortable as possible. Natalie was paged a few minutes later and showed up with a small smile on her face- she may be in a difficult situation but her bedside-manner didn't waver.

"I know it's a stupid question to ask, but how are you feeling?" She was quick to clarify. "Physically, I mean."

"Better." It wasn't exactly true but it was all that Sylvie could manage.

"Good." Natalie smiled. "I'm glad… Alright so I'm just going to do a few movement tests on you and draw some blood to make sure you're doing okay. Is that okay?"

Sylvie looked up at Gabby who nodded and smiled reassuringly. "Okay."

Natalie took a look at her eye-socket, arm, shoulder and ribs gently before backing off. She didn't bother to take anymore scans, knowing that her bones were still broken and hurting.

"Well, your wrist and shoulder are healing well. So is your eye-socket and your ribs." Natalie paused. "Internally, you're doing okay too. But I want you to keep up with the painkillers when you need them. And don't try to put on a brave face and ignore the pain, if you need them, take them."

Sylvie shrunk a little under guilt causing the others to shoot her a slight smirk. It's true, Brett had definitely been putting off taking the pain medication even when she desperately needed them- mainly because she didn't want to sleep.

Changing the subject, Sylvie hesitated. "When can I go back to work?"

Natalie looked between the others before making eye-contact with Sylvie. "A few more weeks of rehab at least… And I want you to talk to someone."

Sylvie went to object but was interrupted by Natalie. "A professional. I know the girls are helping and you feel safe with them, but I think you need to talk to a professional. Dr. Charles is great, or if you're not comfortable with a male, then there's Dr. Reese or we can find another female."

"I really don't want to talk to anyone."

"CFD won't clear you if you don't." Chilli warned gently. She had been made to talk to a therapist about her drinking and the loss of her sister before she was allowed back to work, and even then, she was lucky to actually be cleared.

Sylvie looked up at her and knew she was telling the truth. She turned to Natalie before nodding. "I'll talk to someone."

Natalie smiled. "Good, I'm glad."

Sylvie sat up in the bed a little more, ready to leave. "Are we done here?"

"One more thing." Natalie hesitated. "It's been too long for you to take the morning after pill, but I want to put you on some antiretrovirals just in case whoever did this was carrying something."

Sylvie went to protest but Natalie intercepted. "Look, I know they suck. They make you feel like hell. But it's better to be safe than sorry at this stage."

They all knew how much antiretrovirals sucked. Shay had been put on them after her needle stick and was beyond nauseous after the first two dosages. However, it was better than possibly contracting a sexually transmittable disease.

"And I want you to come straight back in if you notice any bleeding… or if you're late."

The possibility of pregnancy hadn't actually occurred to anyone until now. Sylvie hadn't been in the right frame of mind to consent to the morning after pill when she was first attacked and now it had been too many days for it to be effective.

Sylvie covered her mouth and gagged but luckily Chilli was there with a bucket before Brett threw up over her clothes. Stella rubbed her back whilst Shay held back her hair. Eventually, Brett's dry-heaving eased and Gabby handed her a glass of water.

Gabby turned to Natalie. "I think we're done here."

Natalie nodded understandably, quickly writing up a script and handing it to Chilli. A hundred things ran through Chilli's mind as she read over the script- Hep C. Hep B, HIV, everything. "You're free to go. You can call me or any of us if you need anything, okay?"

Sylvie didn't respond but the others nodded. They were all a team- CFD, CPD and Med; each had each others' backs.

"Alright, babe, let's get you home." Chilli took the bucket away and Stella removed the blankets. Sylvie, still shaky both because of the exam and because she hadn't eaten, took her time to get off the bed with Gabby and Shay's help.

"No wheelchair this time."

Shay smirked. "You read my mind. Don't worry, we've got you."

It took a lot longer than it should have to get to the car but they eventually made it. Instinctively, Gabby and Stella sat in the back with Sylvie whilst Chilli drove and Shay sat in the passenger seat. Once home, Gabby and Stella helped Sylvie into the apartment but the blonde insisted that she just wanted to rest in her room for a while.

Sylvie was sitting on her bed going through her emails when Gabby knocked half an hour later, entering hesitantly. Sylvie shot her a small smile and closed her laptop, signalling that it was okay for Gabby to enter. The brunette closed the door behind her and took a seat on the bed.

"So, girly, Chilli needs to go on a grocery run, Shay and I have to run by Molly's to make sure that they haven't burnt the place down yet and Stella was wondering if she could swing by Severide's for a little while. We'll only be gone an hour tops and that's only if it's okay with you?"

Sylvie nodded and smiled. It wasn't a completely forced smile but it wasn't completely untrue either. "Yeah, I'll be fine. You guys go. Take your time."

"Are you sure?"

Sylvie nodded. "One hundred percent. Now go."

Gabby kissed Sylvie on the cheek and the rest came in to assure her that they would be back in no time. "You call us if you need anything, okay?"

Another nod and smile before the girls made their way to the door. "Oh, and Chilli? Can you please pick up some of those pizza pockets?"

That caught them by surprise but it was a pleasant surprise. Sure, pizza pockets weren't exactly healthy but they were at least food. "Sure thing, partner."

Sylvie got to work almost as soon as the others had left. She tried to think of someway to repay them for all that they had done for her but at the same time, she wasn't ready for them to stop supporting her. Logically, she knew that they wouldn't but her guilt was rising and one thing Sylvie Brett didn't handle well was guilt.

Almost exactly an hour after they had left, there was a knock at the door. Sylvie froze instinctively but eventually relaxed when she realized it was probably one of the girls.

"Hey…" Shay entered first, closely followed by Stella, Chilli and Gabby. "What's all this?"

Sylvie forced a smile, holding her hand out to the coffee table that was loaded with popcorn, candy, chocolate, tequila and a half a dozen movies. "I thought we could have a girls' night."

"You did all this?" Stella smile couldn't have been bigger.

Sylvie nodded, trying to ignore their surprised reactions. "Uh huh. 'Ladder 49' for Gabby, 'The Fast and The Furious' for Shay, 'Remember The Titans' for Stella and, sadly, 'The Notebook' for Chilli."

Chilli gently slapped Brett's arm whom couldn't help but smirk. "That was supposed to be a secret!"

Sylvie smirked, nudging her back.

Shay took the opportunity to plop down on the couch, taking up most of the room as she spread her legs out. Gabby smirked and followed, lifting Shay's legs before placing them back on her lap. Chilli followed shortly thereafter whilst Stella placed a hand on Sylvie's back and a kiss to her head. "I'm proud of you, girl."

Sylvie smiled up at the brunette, a smile as sincere as she could manage and allowed Stella to lead her over to the couch. They sat at the same time and Sylvie rested her head against Stella's shoulder whilst Chilli went for the Twizzlers and Shay grabbed the tequila.

"Shot gun first!"

The others laughed as Shay took a swig of tequila before raising her hand and pointing to the TV.

"What?" She laughed. "Jordana Brewster and Michelle Rodriguez?! Come on!"

Another laugh and Chilli stood up to put in 'The Fast and The Furious' before collapsing back on the couch. They all settled into a comfortable position (well, as comfortable for Sylvie as it could get) and began watching the movie. It didn't go unnoticed to the others that Brett didn't eat any of the snacks but they didn't say anything either.

Around fifteen minutes into the movie, Sylvie spoke up.

"Do you think tomorrow we could go by the station?"