A/N: I'm counting on Brettonio to get back together soon. I mean, everything is looking up for Burzek over on PD, so we can't give up hope for Brettonio! Enjoy Chapter 24, though... emotions are high in this one.

"What do you girls want to drink?" Stella asked, heading into the kitchen and pulling open the fridge. "I got beer, red wine, little bit of whiskey. What's the preference?"

Gabby pondered over the decision for a few moments. "Chuck me a beer."

Beside her, Sylvie chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, I'll have the same!"

"Would you look at that? Sylvie Brett turning down the wine." Stella joked, grabbing three beers and joining the girls back down in the living room.

Sylvie pulled a face at Stella and smirked. "I'm not feeling the red wine, so beer seems like the safer option of the three. I'm disappointed you didn't stock up on some white for me..."

"Well, if you and Gabby had decided to come around before an hour ago, I would have. But since you've sorta sprung this on me, you've gotta deal with the stuff I've already got," Stella shrugged, taking a sip of her beer.

It was their day off shift, and after sleeping for most of the day, Gabby had got in contact with Sylvie and Stella and ordered a girls night. They hadn't actually got together for one for a while, so it seemed only right for them to have one now. Especially with all the stress of the last few weeks and months.

Sylvie knew that Gabby was stressed out with everything going on with Louie, and she needed to talk to Stella as well about her whole situation with Severide. Everything was going fine with her and Antonio lately, minus the text message ordeal that she knew Will was still annoyed about, but this girls night had obviously been in the making for months.

After Sylvie cracked open her second bottle of beer, Gabby decided to dive into exactly what Sylvie was wondering about before - her situation with Matt and Louie.

"I think we're going to lose Louie," Gabby said, her voice was soft and completely unlike what it was usually like when she spoke. Sylvie could tell just how terrified she was about losing him.

"Gabby..." Stella frowned, leaning forward and pulling Gabby into her. "What makes you think that, hun? I thought everything was settling down with that?"

Gabby scoffed and shook her head, wrapping an arm around Stella. "Matt and I met up with Louie's father again, and he bought his parents along. He wanted them to meet him, even if we were going to take him in the end. But I just-" she stopped herself and shook her head. "I can't take him away from a family that wants to love him that much, you know? The love in that room..."

Sylvie frowned. "Maybe...," she hesitated as the two girls looked over at her. "Don't shoot me - but maybe it's for the best? You don't want to put him through all of that stress, right?"

"You're right," Gabby nodded, sipping her beer. "It's not fair for Louie for me and Matt to put him through a whole trial to decide who gets custody. He's so young... I don't want to do that to him, but I don't want to lose him."

Sylvie hated the stress that this situation was putting on Gabby at Matt. Nobody deserved to go through anything like that, and quite honestly, Sylvie hated that such great people were going to lose such an amazing kid. She'd grown to love Louie herself, especially while living with him. But she knew that if her real family had fought for her like Louie's was when she was young, she'd want to be with them. Of course, with no offence to those who wanted to adopt her.

She took a sip of her beer and sighed.

Nobody deserved to go through this.

Especially not her friends.

"I'm in love, guys!"

"Are you drunk, Stella?" Sylvie asked, raising her eyebrows and putting her glass of water down on the table beside her.

Gabby scoffed and let out a laugh. "She's Stella freaking Kidd, of course she's drunk. Don't you know that she only speaks the truth after a few drinks?"

It was a few hours later now, and Sylvie had put down the alcohol and traded it in for water. She didn't want to be drunk when she eventually went back to Antonio. Which would probably be soon, considering how tired she was feeling.

"I'm telling you the truth, girls!" Stella exclaimed, slamming her beer down on the table a little too forcefully. "I think I might be in love with him."

"And what? It's Severide, isn't it?" Gabby asked, leaning back in her chair.

Stella raised her eyebrows at Gabby, but nodded. "But he's in love with someone else now. So, I'm not going to get in between him and her. He deserves a good girl, happiness with someone like her. I mean, I met her! He saved her life, so I'm gonna let him be."

"You mean Anna?" Sylvie asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

Stella nodded again.

"Wait - didn't Kelly tell you?" Gabby frowned.

"Tell me what? He was going to see her this morning before she checked out. That's what he told me just before the end of shift, anyway," Stella shrugged.

Gabby rolled her eyes and turned to face Stella. "Stell, she left," she said. "Kelly went to see her this morning, yeah, but she left before he got there. She's gone back to Springfield without giving him a chance."

"Stella, just go for it. You've been there for him more than anyone, lately. If he needs anyone now, it's going to be you. Not me, not Matt, not Sylvie. You."

Sylvie couldn't keep the smile off her face as Antonio pulled her chair out and let her sit down in the restaurant. He'd met her at home earlier that afternoon and informed her that he was taking her out to dinner.

He said that it was only right - he'd spent the whole day with Laura, Diego and Eva - now he had to spent the night with 'his girl'. Sylvie definitely did internally scream when he said that to her.

"Wine?" He asked her, grabbing the wine menu from the table after sitting down himself. Antonio looked at her over the top of it, watching as she nodded.

After ordering the two of them a glass of white wine each, he couldn't help leaning over and taking her hand across the table. Sylvie grinned at him.

"What? You missed me that much today, hey?" She smirked.

He chuckled lightly and looked down at the table. "I definitely did miss you today, baby," Antonio looked back up at her, smiling. "I did have a good day with Laura and the kids, though. But how can I resist treating my girl?"

Sylvie blushed at his words as the waiter came by and gave each of them a glass of white wine. She instantly picked up her glass and took a sip of it.

Across the table, Antonio did the same before picking up the menu. Sylvie grabbed her own and began to flick through it, becoming increasingly exciting at how good the food was going to be here.

Antonio definitely didn't have to bring her to a restaurant as fancy as this one. She would have been fine with take-out at home, but she was thrilled to be here. The idea that he wanted to treat her so much made the butterflies in her stomach go crazy.

"What are you having?" Sylvie asked, peeking at him across the table.

He looked up at her instantly, before looking back down at the menu. "I'm thinking that I'll go for the steak and baked potato. What are you feeling like?"

Sylvie grinned. "Ever the traditionalist," she smirked. "I'm going for the Three Cheese Risotto, actually. I think I'll leave the blueberry pancakes for dessert."

Antonio laughed softly at her and called the waiter over, instantly ordering their meals. Sylvie could hardly wait.

"How was your day, baby?" He asked her, looking down at their hands, entwined together across the table once more. "Did you do anything interesting?"

She couldn't help but blush, embarrassed, as he asked her. "Well, I marathoned Stranger Things on Netflix, texted Gabby a little bit... uh, slept in until almost noon," she chuckled. "The usual..."

Antonio smirked at her. "This is what happens to you when I'm not around? Looks like I'll have to spend more time with you, then." He grinned.

"What about you?" Sylvie asked, smiling.

"My day?" He raised his eyebrows.

Sylvie nodded at him.

Antonio shrugged. "It was the usual, the four of us just went out to lunch and took Diego and Eva to a mall for a while. Diego got a new game for his PlayStation and Eva bought a couple new books. It was good, though. It was nice to be a family again," he mused. "I couldn't wait to come back home to you though."

"You don't have to do that, you know..." Sylvie frowned.

Across the table, Antonio furrowed his eyebrows. "Do what?"

"Try and compensate for hanging out with your own family," Sylvie sighed. "You're allowed to say that it was nice to be a family with the three of them again without adding me into the equation. You don't have to do that, Antonio."

Antonio frowned at her and shook his head. "I said it because I meant it, baby. It was nice to be a family again, but I was so excited to bring you out tonight as well. I wasn't compensating for anything."

As Sylvie went to speak again, a waiter appeared, putting their dinner on the table in front of them. Sylvie dug in immediately, wanting to ignore the conversation.

The car was quiet as Antonio drove home. It was about a 45 minute drive from the restaurant to Antonio's apartment, but Sylvie didn't mind. After dinner, the mood from their previous conversation had disappeared. Which was good.

"You said you talked to Gabby today," Antonio said suddenly.

"Yeah, I did," Sylvie nodded. "We just texted on and off."

Antonio looked over at her briefly. "What about?"

"Mostly about Louie, actually," Sylvie pondered, nodding to herself. "They've decided to give him back to his rightful family. It's a good decision, I think..."

Antonio was silent for a while beside her, and Sylvie moved to look out of the window at the lights of the city as they drove.

"I'll have to call her tomorrow, check if she's okay," Antonio finally spoke again, though his voice was quiet. "I'm going to miss that little guy..."

Sylvie smiled and nodded. "Yeah, so will I," she chuckled. "I'd like to have kids some day. I think having Louie around just made that so much clearer for me..."

Antonio frowned, keeping his eyes on the road. "I think I'm good in that aspect," he chuckled softly. "I've got Eva and Diego, and having those two is enough for me. Having more kids just seems like too much."

As Sylvie fell asleep that night, she couldn't help but think about what Antonio said. Was he really the right person for her if he didn't want kids with her? She understood that Antonio already had two, but still...

Antonio wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close as the two started to fall asleep. "Sleep well, baby," he muttered, Sylvie barely hearing it as she drifted off to sleep.