A/N: Well, long time no see! It's been almost a year since I updated this story, and I'm sorry it's taken so long! I didn't have any muse or motivation for absolutely forever and finally I've started to feel motivated again. Plus, in April 2017 my mental health really wasn't great, so now I'm finally good enough again to really start writing again. I'm also planning a few more fics to upload within the next day or two, so I hope you're excited! I have a few more chapters planned for this story, and I'm excited to finally wrap it up and for you guys to see where it ends. Anyway, read on and enjoy!

"We need to talk."

Sylvie walked into their apartment after returning from Molly's, two days after her girls night with Kim. She'd been dreading this moment ever since she decided to tell Antonio about the text, but she's been holding out hope that Antonio would understand. As she'd thought, he hung out with his ex, so why can't she ignore a text from hers?

He looked up from the table, where he was reading over a few files from his latest case. He looked sweet, and Sylvie realised just how much she'd missed him. She'd seen him earlier in the morning after her shift but he'd been at work for the rest of the day.

She sat down in the seat opposite him and Antonio closed his files.

"What about? Did something happen?" He asked.

Sylvie shook her head. "No, well–yes, but it was a while ago. And I've been keeping it from you but I shouldn't have."

He frowned. "Is it serious?"

"No! No, it's not. It's nothing, really, but I have to tell you."

"Well, shoot," he said.

Sylvie took a deep breath and pulled out her phone. She opened up the message and read it out aloud.

"I got this message from Harrison the night of the surprise party. He hasn't sent anything else since, but I figured I should tell you. I didn't think it was important to tell you but now I've realised I should have told you when the message came though," she admitted.

Antonio frowned, eyes dropping down to look at the table. He's angry – and not because Harrison messaged his girlfriend, because he knows Sylvie is loyal to him and would never go back to that prick, but because she didn't tell him.

"Why didn't you tell me? This is something I should have known about weeks ago, Sylvie. Did you not trust me? Or did you think something else? Did you even consider replying to him? Because if you did..." he drifted off, but Sylvie got the message.

She frantically shook her head. "No, I didn't– not for a second!"

He stood up, grabbing his phone from the table and shaking his head. "Listen, I'm gonna head out and think about this. Okay? I just– I trust you, I do, but this... Syl, you should have told me."

Before Sylvie could say another word, he grabbed his jacket from the back of the chair, grabbed his car keys and disappeared from the house. Sylvie was speechless. How could he leave like that? Leave without a second thought? He was supposed to trust her in this, and even if he'd just said he did, obviously that trust wasn't strong enough.

She squeezed her eyes shut and moved to the couch. It was nearly 10:00pm, since she'd been at Molly's late with Gabby and Stella. But she'd wait up until he came home. Surely he wouldn't be that long. Surely he'd just go for a quick drive around the city and return in less than an hour, refreshed and ready to trust and apologise to her.

It was nearly 3:00am by the time she fell asleep. Antonio wasn't back.

Sylvie woke up early the following morning, sleep deprived and worried. Antonio still wasn't home, and regretfully she got up and started preparing for work. She couldn't bare to make blueberry pancakes, and instead poured a bowl of tasteless cereal.

It wasn't the same without Antonio here, and she was worried.

As she ate her cereal, she picked up her phone and sent him a quick text.

Sylvie Brett: Antonio, I'm worried. Will you please text me back? I'm heading to work in half an hour. Please let me know you're okay.

There was no reply by the time she got to the station, and she sleepily walked inside. Only a few other firefighters were there, like Cruz, Otis and Stella, and she sat next to Stella.

"Have you heard from Gabby this morning?" She asked her, curious.

Stella shook her head. "No, nothin'. Why? She should be here soon anyway."

"I'm just curious. Wondering if she's spoken to Antonio at all lately."

That got Stella to frown even more, and she turned to Sylvie, instantly worried. "Has somethin' happened? What's goin on, Sylvie?"

She shook her head. "No, it's nothing... we just had a little disagreement. He, uh, he left and he hasn't come home yet. I'm worried. He hasn't answered my texts or anything."

Stella sighed. "What an ass."

Sylvie couldn't bring herself to defend him.

Twenty minutes later, Gabby and Matt arrived, hand-in-hand. Stella was still sat beside Sylvie at the table. Gabby joined them while Matt headed off to his office to get in some work before the first call of the day.

"Hey, have you spoken to Antonio lately?" Sylvie asked, finally finding the courage to ask. She was worried about what Gabby would say. And what if she hadn't heard from him? What if he'd gone off the grid completely?

To her luck, Gabby nodded. "Yeah, he, uh, he stayed over at mine."

"What? Why? You didn't text me. Neither of you did."

She winced. "Yeah, I know. Antonio told me not to, but believe me, Brett, I wanted to. What the hell happened between you? He wouldn't tell me a thing. He just said he needed to be away from you for a bit to think. Did you have an argument?"

Brett nodded. "An argument of sorts. More of a disagreement. I, uh, a few weeks ago, at the party, I got a text from Harrison, my ex. I didn't tell him about it, and last night I finally did and he, uh, he didn't take it well."

"That's all?" Gabby frowned.

"Yeah, that's all. Why?"

"He was acting like it was worse than that. I thought something bad had happened. But that's all? Doesn't he know that you're not interested in Harrison anymore? Seriously, what the hell has gotten into him?" Gabby sighed and shook her head.

Stella agreed. "You gotta talk to him, though. That's the only way he'll understand."

"I probably should. But he hasn't answered any of his texts. So later. After shift."

"Let me know what happens, yeah? I don't want you hurt," Stella said, smiling reassuringly at her. "I'm sure it'll all work itself out. I mean, you got shot and he stuck by you, so if he leaves after this, he ain't worth it, hon. No offense, Gab."

Gabby held up her hands in mock surrender. "None taken."

Sylvie saw Antonio's car parked outside the firehouse just as she and Gabby pulled the ambo back into the station. They'd been on a call for over an hour, a car accident, and had to drop off a patient to the hospital.

She wondered, briefly, how long Antonio had been there, but also knew that she wasn't ready to talk to him yet. She agreed with Gabby and Stella that she had to talk to him eventually, but she hadn't prepared for it to be so soon. She slipped out the passenger side of the ambo while Gabby went in the front door and hurried in through the back, deciding to head straight to the bathrooms to prepare herself.

She wanted this to work out – she wanted this talk to go well, and she couldn't even prepare herself for a situation where it didn't. Antonio was the most important person in her life and she doesn't know how she can function properly without him now.

Antonio Dawson is the person she'd been starting to fall in love with.

She took a deep breath and stood in front of the sinks, breathing in and out slowly to prepare herself. This could go one of two ways – good or bad. For her sake, she hoped it went the former way. If she and Antonio had a bad fight, she wouldn't be able to focus for the rest of the day.

Preparing herself once more with a deep breath and some reassuring words, she left the bathroom and walked back into the main part of the firehouse. Antonio was sitting at one of the tables next to Gabby, a coffee in front of him.

The second she walked in, he stood up, looking at no one but her.

She held back a wince and pointed a finger to the meeting room off to the side. She didn't want to have this talk where anyone else could overhear. Antonio understood, so she led the way, closing the door behind them and walking into the centre of the room. Her nerves were making her feel sick.

"I'm an ass," Antonio's words started the conversation, and Sylvie was a little shocked by them.

"You are?"

He nodded. "I am. I should have stayed. I should have listened, but I–" he paused, shook his head. "I jumped to conclusions. I was scared you were going to say something I didn't want to hear, so I left. I went to Molly's, had a drink, and then went straight to Gabby. Believe me, she wasn't happy with me being there, but I had no choice."

"You could have come home."

Antonio sighed. "Yeah, I could have. But I just... I needed to think."

Sylvie shook her head and stepped away from him. "You jumped to conclusions. You didn't even let me explain properly before you got up and left. I stayed up all night. I'm tired as hell now because I was waiting for you to come home. I was waiting for you to come home, Antonio, and you didn't!"

Her voice was louder, then. She was angrier than she thought.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Sylvie. I swear, I didn't– I just– I needed to think–"

"You said that, Antonio. But don't you think we should have talked about it? You said you trusted me, but clearly you don't trust me as much as you say you do if you left before giving me a chance to explain."

He frowned. He hated feeling like this. He hated that Sylvie felt like this because of him. And he wished so desperately that he could go back in time and stay. But he couldn't. All he could do now was to try and win her back.

"Listen, I'm going to stay with Kim for a few nights, okay? I don't want to kick you out of your own apartment. But you said you needed to think, and now I need to think too," Sylvie explained. "I know we had that heart-to-heart a few nights ago, but I need to think now. How can I be with someone who won't even let me explain?"

"Sylvie, please, don't– listen, we can work this out. Don't, please–"

His voice was pleading, and Sylvie almost cracked at the sound. Instead, she got a grip and shook her head.

"I'll text you. We can talk later. But for now, we just... we need to take a break."

She walked out of the room and away from him before he could say anything else.