A/N: Thank you all so much for almost 100 reviews! So crazy that so many of you have enjoyed this story so far. And we're only at Chapter 18!

Sylvie's POV

"I'm sick of having nothing to do, Antonio," Sylvie groaned as she lay on the couch, remote in hand and a half empty plate of nachos on the coffee table. "I want to work again. How long has it been? When can I go back?"

It had been almost a week since Antonio and Sylvie started their temporary living situation. Sylvie didn't mind living with him - mostly because he was so caring towards her - but she missed work. She missed having things to do.

She couldn't help but feel like a burden to Antonio. He was always waiting on her, even when he was at work, he was calling whenever he wasn't working on a case, making sure she was okay. Technically, there was only a week left until she was to be cleared to head back to work, and she'd been weening herself off of all the painkillers she'd been taking on a regular basis.

But nothing could fill the void where work was supposed to be.

Sadly, not even Antonio.

She'd had a few visitors over the past week, both people from Firehouse 51 and from the Intelligence Unit, plus Kim. But she missed being busy. She missed being able to go to Molly's after work. And there was so much she had to do - she needed to go back to her own apartment, she needed to find a new car. But because of the wound in her side, actually doing any of that was impossible.

"I know, baby," Antonio sighed, sitting down on the edge of the couch beside her. He'd only come home for an hour and a half for lunch, considering it was a weekday and didn't get too much time off, especially when they were working on closing up the case with Sylvie. "You can go back next Monday if you're cleared by Rhodes, you know that. You've got a check-up this afternoon with him, and Gabby is going to come around and take you for that."

Every day since she'd been living with Antonio, Sylvie had said at least twice that she was lucky to have Gabby. She'd been checking up on her even more often than Antonio had, but Sylvie had yet to have the conversation with her and tell her that everything that happened wasn't her fault.

As she pushed herself up off the couch, she made a mental note to do that when Gabby came around in a few hours. Antonio put a hand on her back, pulling her gently toward him and sighing. Sylvie knew he felt bad for her. She could tell that he wanted her back and ready to go to work again just as much as she wanted.

"Have you heard anything? About the trials?" Sylvie asked, resting her head on Antonio's shoulder. He'd been pretty quiet about it lately, and she supposed it was just because he didn't want to stress her out about it all. Considering that the recovery from a gunshot wound was stressful enough.

Antonio nodded down at her, his hand moving to hold onto hers. "Yeah, just this morning actually. Tony and Kyle will be in court this Saturday, Jonathan next Thursday. Peter Stone over at the States Attorney's Office is going to be working Jonathan's. We, uh, you, Gabby and myself - we've been asked to testify against him."

With a groan, Sylvie moved off of Antonio's shoulder and turned to look at him. "I have to testify," she muttered. Beside her, Antonio nodded and frowned.

"Both Kyle and Tony have already confessed, and since we found their prints and I was at the scene with Tony, they're just going to be sentenced straight away. Jonathan's a little trickier. Even though he's confessed to Voight, we're needed to testify against him. Since you were the one shot, Gabby was at the scene and I found you... well, that says it all."

Sylvie sighed and leant her face into her hands, shaking her head. She'd known all of this wasn't over, but the idea that she'd have to see the man that shot her in a courtroom made her feel sick.

Antonio rubbed her back and took a deep breath at seeing how stressed she was over all this. He knew he had to tell her, but he hated doing it.

"So... if I get cleared, I go back to work Monday, yet I have to leave again to testify on Thursday? What do I have to say?" Sylvie said, sitting back up to look at Antonio again.

He frowned at her and pulled her in close again. "There's no need to worry about that now. You'll get asked to explain what happened in relation to Jonathan and the shooting, and that's all. Don't stress yourself out over all this, Sylvie. It isn't worth it, believe me. You've been through enough."

Sylvie agreed with him and nodded. She felt like those moments with Antonio just after Tony had refused to get into the ambo were years ago. The reality that it was almost two months ago just stressed her out even more. Her eyes moved to her phone on the table and she leant forward to pick it up, unlocking it to check the time. It was just after one, and Gabby wasn't going to be here to pick her up until four. Connor had agreed to meet with her at four-thirty.

She looked up at Antonio and moved to lay back down on the couch, making sure not to touch or aggravate her side as she did so. Even if she wasn't in constant pain, just moving the wrong way or hitting it on sideways caused the same amount as it had back in hospital. "I'm just going to nap for a while, okay?" She sighed, handing Antonio her phone.

He nodded back at her before leaning in and pressing a soft kiss to her lips. "Absolutely, baby. Sleep well, okay. I'll set an alarm for quarter to four for you," he muttered, working on setting an alarm for her. "Just relax. Don't stress yourself out."

After Antonio sat her phone back on the coffee table, Sylvie watched as he stood up and walked back into the kitchen, leaving her to sleep off her stress.

Sylvie had woken up to the sounds of her alarm just after a quarter to four, and, after getting dressed and freshening up, had joined Gabby in her car for the trip to Med.

It was silent for the first minute or two of the drive, and Sylvie sighed as she thought over what she was going to say to Gabby about this entire ordeal. With a deep breath, Sylvie turned to look at Gabby and spoke.

"It's not your fault, you know? Any of this. Please don't beat yourself up about it, Gabby." Sylvie said, fiddling with her hands as she did so.

Gabby stayed silent for a moment before letting out a breath. "Even if you say that, Brett, I can't help but feel like it is. I shouldn't have let you go alone to get that gurney. I should have known better than to do that."

Sylvie shook her head at her quickly. "No, you were just doing your job, Gabby! You needed to look after that patient and I needed to get the gurney. That patient was our first priority, not whether or not I was capable enough of grabbing that gurney on my own."

She hated that Gabby was blaming all of this on herself, and she hated even more that it seemed anything she said would be ignored. That as many times as she told Gabby it wasn't her that was to blame, it wouldn't work to sway her.

"Gabby, listen to me," Sylvie began, her voice stronger and harder than it had been for their entire conversation so far. "None of this is your fault. You were doing your job just as I was doing mine. And hey, I'm sitting here today, am I not? I'm in the car with you to go and get checked up for the second last time by a doctor. This whole ordeal is as good as over, and I'm alive, Gabby. I'm living and I'm breathing, and that's all thanks to your brother. If he hadn't found me outside that ambo and got me in another one, I wouldn't be here right now. But he did, and I'm so grateful for that."

Sylvie took a deep breath, glancing quickly outside to see where they were before turning back to Gabby. "Gabriela Dawson, you are my best friend. You have been since my first day here in Chicago and you still are now. So, please, do me the honour of not blaming yourself for something that couldn't be helped. It was going to happen at some point anyway, and now that it has, and I'm alive... we're fine. Just, please, Gabby. Please don't blame yourself."

Beside her, Gabby sighed, her hands tight on the wheel as she turned the corner into the carpark at Med. As she parked the car, she adjusted position in her seat and turned to face Sylvie, her eyes watering at trying to keep in tears.

"I thought you were going to die, Sylvie," Gabby whispered, her voice quiet in Sylvie's ears. Sylvie's face dropped and she reached across the seats to grab her hand. "I've already lost one partner, and I didn't want to lose another."

She hadn't met Shay, but she'd heard alot about her. Yet now, Sylvie understood why Gabby was so scared about what happened to Sylvie. She knew that Gabby had blamed herself for Shay's death. She couldn't help but blame herself for Sylvie as well.

With a deep breath, Sylvie moved and opened the car door, slowly getting out and walking around to Gabby's side and pulling it open. Gabby slowly got out of her own door and before she had a chance to grab her bag and head into Med, Sylvie pulled her into a gentle hug.

"I'm still here," Sylvie whispered, holding Gabby tight.

She could tell that Gabby had finally let the tears start to fall as she started to shake and she closed her eyes, her grip around her still tight. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm telling you that."

"Everything seems to be in order, Sylvie," Rhodes spoke, letting Sylvie move her shirt back over the wound. He moved to stand in front of her and smiled. "Your wound is healing well. By next Monday, it should be healed even more. It'll leave a scar, of course, but by the looks of it, you'll be back at work in no time."

Sylvie grinned at him, turning to check on Gabby who was stood next to Rhodes, a smile on her face as well. "How long, do you think?"

Rhode shrugged. "Monday, or possibly Tuesday. If you come in Sunday night I'll check you over again and see if you're ready to work. But from today, I can almost completely say you'll be back and swinging on Monday."

He moved to grab her chart and began to fill it out. "Just make sure you take everything slow this next week. You've done well on that so far, just don't do anything too intensive for at least the next two to four weeks, just to make sure. No more climbing into cars for Kelly Severide like I heard about."

Sylvie let out a laugh and nodded at Rhodes. "You got it, Connor," she smiled, standing up and grabbing her handbag from Gabby. "See you on Sunday, I suppose. Have a good week, Connor."

"And you, Sylvie," Connor nodded, leaving the room and heading to his next patient.

Gabby and Sylvie made their way back outside the hospital and got back into the car. As Gabby pulled away from the hospital, Sylvie grabbed her phone and sent a text to Antonio.

Sylvie Brett: Given the all good by Rhodes! Should be back and good for our breakfast dates at that diner by next Monday. Yet, I am considering just allowing you to continue cooking me those beautiful blueberry pancakes... ;) X

As they pulled up outside Antonio's apartment, her phone buzzed, and she checked the message quickly before getting out and heading upstairs.

Antonio Dawson: You've turned me over to the dark side... one day I was an eggs benedict man. Now, I'm all for these blueberry pancakes. More than happy to keep cooking for you any day. XX