Glad to see you all enjoyed that little cliffhanger on the last chapter. ;) I know this update is quick but I planned it in my head today and had to get it to the page and loved it so much I had to post it! Enjoy! (Especially enjoy all the cute friendships in this chapter!)
Sylvie felt like a complete and utter fool. She was stronger than this. Stronger than the need to call a man to get her out of a tricky situation. Antonio still hadn't arrived yet, but he hadn't hung up the call either and was always making sure she was still there. She stepped forward slightly and felt the glass break under her feet, making her cringe. But she needed to see what was in the car, or more importantly, what was inside the box.
Before she could get to the front door of her car, though, Antonio's car pulled up speedily outside Molly's. Sylvie stopped, making it look like she'd been in the same place the whole way. She hadn't even noticed Antonio ending their call. He hurried toward her, slamming the car door and looking warily at the car. It was late, and Sylvie suddenly felt bad for making him leave his house at this hour.
"Damn, this is bad. I'm going to have to call Voight," Antonio sighed, shaking his head before turning to Sylvie. "You doing alright? I'll call Voight now, when he gets here I'll take you to the station and you can make a statement about all this."
Sylvie nodded at him, her eyes still glued to the box on the front seat of the car as Antonio called Voight. He only spoke a few words to him before hanging up and nudging Sylvie toward the door of Molly's. "It's freezing out here, let's head inside and wait for Voight before I take you back. Do you know what happened?"
"No, I was just talking to Will Halstead inside. It was getting late so I decided to leave and I walked outside to see all this," she shrugged. "Listen, uh, Antonio, I-I don't want to cause a fuss, I really don't. This is all such a big deal now, if it gets any worse Boden won't let me work and I can't leave Gabby with a bad partner..."
Antonio shook his head, gripping her arms and staring at her. "This was a big deal since the day you found that note at your apartment, Brett. Now, it's a bigger one. If Boden decides to take you off shift, Gabby will be completely capable of handling a new partner until you're back and ready to work. You're not causing a fuss at all, Sylvie."
She nodded at him slightly, letting Antonio lead her inside. He'd obviously spotted Jay, Erin and Will talking at the back corner of the bar and headed over to them quickly. "Could you guys watch Sylvie for a second? I need to go back outside and wait for Voight."
Erin nodded, looking at Antonio with a worried look on her face. "Yeah, what's going on, Antonio?" She stepped forward, wrapping an arm around Sylvie's shoulders, turning to look down at her.
"Her car's been vandalised, and there's a suspicious box on the front seat. I'll take her back to the station after, but Voight's coming now to check it out. Just stay with her. Don't let her out of your sight." Antonio backed away to the door and left, obviously waiting outside for Voight.
Will pulled Sylvie into a hug almost immediately. "Oh, man. You're okay, right?" He asked. Sylvie nodded into his chest, mumbling a quiet "Mmhmmm."
Erin's arm returned to her shoulders soon after, each of them staying silent for a few moments before Jay mentioned that they should head outside too. Jay and Will walked ahead of Erin and Sylvie, who still had their arms wrapped around one another. She didn't care if it was cold outside. She didn't want Antonio to be alone out there at a crime scene that she'd caused, even if he was a police officer.
The four of them walked down the street a little to Sylvie's car, stopping just before the glass began. "Thank God you're okay, Sylvie," Erin muttered, sending her a reassuring smile.
Voight and Antonio were standing by the front door of the car, examining the box and trying to decide on what to do. When they heard the four others appear behind them, they turned around.
Voight nodded to Antonio, who nodded back at him as he headed over the glass to Sylvie. "I'll take you back to the station now. Erin, Jay - you two good staying to help Voight?"
Erin nodded at him. "Yeah, we'll stay. Sylvie, stay safe, okay? I'll call you in the morning to check on you."
Sylvie nodded back at her and gave her a kind smile. "I'll be waiting!" She smiled, following after Antonio to his car, parked right near her now destroyed one.
The station was much warmer than the outside right now and Sylvie was glad to be sitting alone in the break room of the Intelligence Unit. It was nearing midnight and Sylvie was getting tired. She didn't know how she'd be able to deal with a 24 hour shift tomorrow.
The door to the break room opened and Kim Burgess walked in, two coffees in her hands. She sat one down in front of Sylvie. "Figured you'd need a bit of a drink. I'm on night patrol tonight with Tay, and the coffee in the downstairs break room isn't half bad."
Sylvie chuckled at her, taking a sip of the warm drink and thanking Kim. "You're really too kind, Kim."
Kim shrugged and grinned at her. "I was born that way, I suppose," she joked, flicking her ponytail over her shoulder in mock sass.
The two sat in silence for a few moments, both sipping their coffees. Yet Sylvie could see Kim getting impatient, and tried to hide the smile on her face at the fact she was almost bursting with what she wanted to say.
Finally, after a few more minutes of silence, Kim finally said what she'd been holding back on saying. "Okay, don't jump on me for this, but what's going on with you and Antonio?"
Sylvie frowned, furrowing her eyebrows in confusion. "Uh, nothing's going on between Antonio and I? What makes you think that?"
Kim rolled her eyes at her and took another sip of her coffee. "Okay, did you know this? Tonight, when you called him about the incident at Molly's, he wasn't even working. It's his night off, and he just sped straight to you when he heard you were in danger. From the comfort of his own home."
"I'm sure he'd do that for anyone, Kim. It's not just specifically me. I was in trouble, and he's a police officer. It's understandable why he'd come running." Sylvie shrugged at her.
Though, something in the back of her mind hoped that there was that something more there. That it was specifically the fact that she was in danger that he left so quickly and got there so fast. She shook her head at the thought.
"You keep telling yourself that, Sylvie. But believe me, Antonio doesn't do that for just anyone. He'd do it for Gabby, and he'd do it for his kids. He'd probably do it for his ex-wife too. But you're in the top five. So, if you're not gonna admit there's something going on..."
"Okay, fine!" Sylvie exclaimed, almost spilling her coffee in her hands. Kim grinned at her, leaning forward on the table. "I might have a-a tiny crush on him. Like, a teeny tiny one!"
Kim's grin was bigger than Sylvie had ever seen in her life, and she almost laughed at it until she spoke again. "Your secret's safe with me, Syl."
Kim kept her company for at least another twenty minutes, by which it was already past midnight and Sylvie was getting even more tired, even though she had coffee.
A few minutes past 12:20am, Antonio walked into the break room and took a seat between Kim and Sylvie. "I've just been on the phone with Gabby, and we've both agreed that it's easier for you to stay at mine tonight. I know you're closer with Gabby, but she lives almost half an hour away from the station and I live less than ten minutes." Antonio explained.
Sylvie nodded at him, listening to his every word and trying to ignore Kim's eyes on her.
"I'll drop you off at Gabby's in the morning so you can get ready and you can go home with Gabby tomorrow night. It's just a temporary thing," he shrugged. "You don't mind?"
She shook her head, finishing off her coffee. "No, that's fine. It's late and even if I'm sleeping on a couch, as long as it's not too far away from here I'm fine. I trust you," she shrugged, standing up and moving to hug Kim.
"Get it, girl," Kim whispered into her ear as they hugged. Sylvie had to bite her tongue to not laugh. She pulled away from her and followed Antonio from the break room and out of the station to his car.
"I'll find you some clothes to wear tonight, but you'll be able to get ready at Gabby's tomorrow morning so you'll be fine," he spoke as he pulled away from the curb and began to drive.
Sylvie nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Hey, um, thanks for offering to do this, by the way. I know it's probably not the way you want to spend your night, looking after me."
Antonio chuckled. "Believe me, Brett. You're capable of looking after yourself, and I really don't mind. Anything to keep you safe." He smiled.