"Are you sure you're up for round 2? I can just take you home and we can do this another day." He could see she was exhausted "No, we do this now, 51 already knows so it'll be a miracle if nobody here knows yet, plus you're the one doing this one, this is your place." He groaned and wished he could have a drink right now. He grabbed their food and headed for the entrance.
Platt was at her usual place behind the desk and yelled when she saw Sylvie and ran from behind the desk to give her a hug, "How are you feeling? Has he been taking care of you? Cause you know I can fix it if he isn't" she was joking with Sylvie.
"Of course he is and I'm feeling a lot better." Sylvie felt Antonio's arms wrap around her shoulders from behind she turned her head to look at him and he nodded and smiled at her.
"Hey Sarge, have you talked to Mouch today?" Antonio asked. Trudy shook her head, "No why? Is something wrong?"
Sylvie chuckled and motioned for them to walk back toward the desk for a little more privacy. "No nothing is wrong per say, actually I want to tell you something but you can't react out loud, okay?"
Platt had a confused look on her face but agreed. Sylvie leaned in and almost in a whisper said, "I'm pregnant". Trudy gasped, stepped back and looked from Sylvie to Antonio "Really?" she said a little to loudly. Sylvie shushed her and Antonio nodded "Yup about six months, I'm due in November, we really won't be able to hide it much longer." Trudy grabbed her and pulled her into a hug "You're not even showing, how?" Sylvie sighed and explained the situation.
Platt noticed the bag of food in Antonio's hand, "Have you eaten today, is that your lunch?" Antonio confirmed it was. "Then don't let me hold you up, you need to feed that baby, get going and eat before you tell anyone else. That's an order." Sylvie laughed and gave Trudy a quick hug and followed Antonio up the stairs to the bullpen.
Sylvie hadn't been in the bullpen more than a couple of times, the place intimidated her and if she was being honest, terrified her. She was pretty sure no one in Intelligence knew they were back together or that they had been off and on, with the exception of Kim whom she was pretty good friends with. Kim was Antonio's partner and one of his best friends, they were very protective of each other and Sylvie was glad that Antonio had someone like her to look after him. Sylvie also knew that Antonio was very protective of his personal life at work and didn't divulge a lot of information willingly. He had a clean line between work and home and tried his hardest not to cross the two unless absolutely necessary, Sylvie being a paramedic complicated that slightly when they had cases that crossed but they were both able to be strictly professional in those rare instances.
Antonio had two separate personalities for work and home; Kim often teased him about it, as did Gabby and Sylvie on occasion. At work he was in cop mode, usually serious and completely devoted to his cases, he usually came off as an asshole with little feelings, he followed the rules, and some even thought he was a little sanctimonious, which was laughable because he worked for Voight and everyone knew he was loyal to him.
But at home he allowed himself to relax and have fun, he was silly and caring and would do anything for anyone he cared about. The Unit did not get to see home side of him very often; even at the bar he tended to straddle the line but usually lent more toward cop mode.
As they reached the top of the stairs Sylvie grabbed Antonio's hand and tried to hide behind him. They had the entire unit staring at them and Sylvie could feel herself starting to get nervous. Kim stood and walked towards them, speaking softly to make sure no one could hear, "Hey Brett, how are you feeling? Sorry I haven't been to see you, I've been trying to pick up this ones slack" Kim pointed her thumb at Antonio. Antonio had been out a couple of days over the last couple of weeks. "I'm feeling better and no don't worry about it, you helped me more by helping him than you could if you would have came and seen me." Sylvie gave Kim a hug. The rest of the unit stared at the exchange between the three confused.
"Who's the girl?" Hailey leaned into Adam and asked. She knew she looked familiar but couldn't place her. "Names Brett, she's Tonio's sisters partner on 61." "Oh yeah, the one that helped us out on those two cases, they had to take her to the hospital a couple weeks back right?" Adam just nodded, not quite interested. Haley looked back up and stared at her for a minute, she did recognize her now but with her hair down and no paramedic uniform she looked a lot different. "Are they dating? He's holding her hand." Adam shrugged; he knew Antonio was a mystery about most things out side of work.
Jay heard the exchange between Hailey and Adam and rolled toward them in his chair. "Pretty sure they've been on and off for a while, Erin said something about it almost two years ago." Adam looked at him "Two years? How does he keep a girlfriend from us for two years? We've taken him out, tried to hook him up, well that certainly explains the lack in interest in girls I try to set him up with" Adam said.
"No…the lack of interest is not wanting to catch something, I've seen the girls you hang with" Jay deadpanned. Adam threw a pen and hit Jay in the face. When they returned their attention back to Antonio, he was heading towards Voight's office and stared straight at the three of them as he passed, they quickly pretended to be doing something, anything. Sylvie had sat at Antonio's desk to eat, Kim sat on the desk next to her chatting away.
Antonio entered Voight's office and shut the door behind him. "Hey Sarge, you got a couple of minutes?" Voight looked up, he saw Sylvie outside the door sitting at Antonio's desk. He knew Sylvie had been in the hospital after that fake Ambo call and that her and Antonio had some connection but didn't know exactly what.
"Yeah, what's up bro? Everything all right?" he was concerned, wondering if there was something going on with Brett as a result of the case, maybe she was being harassed, he hoped not.
"Nah, everything's good, I just wanted to let you know some news that is going to need a lot of my attention and I'll be in and out periodically." He knew Hank wouldn't have a problem with it and would let him do whatever he needed to for his family. "Well shoot, what's this news?" Hank was eager to know what was going on with his best detective.
"Sylvie….Brett" Antonio motioned toward her, "she's pregnant, she's having complications, which is the reason she collapsed on that call, they say she's high risk and put her on bed rest until the baby is born."
Hank set there for a minute. "Your the father?" he asked, he had no clue that they were dating but now that he looks back the signs were there he thought to himself.
"Yeah, yeah I am, she's due in November so it will only be a couple of months of doctors appointments and stuff" Antonio said smiling, it was obvious he was very happy about this.
Hank had a quick realization "You let me put a vest on her and send her into a house with a known violent felon when she was what...five, six months pregnant?" His voice was raising and he was close to losing his temper. "Did the stress or the heavy vest have something to do with her collapse? That was the hottest day of the year and she was loaded down with even more weight." Antonio stood up and held up his hands to try to calm Voight before he came over the desk to wring his neck, "NO, NO I DIDN'T, we didn't know she was pregnant, she was sick, I knew she was a little under the weather but I didn't know how sick she really was, she had pneumonia, dehydration, and anemia, she needed two blood transfusions, an iron infusion, fluids, and antibiotics. She also had severe morning sickness and everything together was hiding the pregnancy, we had no clue, I promise Sarge, we, me and you…didn't do anything wrong."
Hank sighed relaxing, he wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he had something to do with hurting Sylvie and that baby. He stood up and walked to Antonio and held his arms open, Antonio stood and gave him a hug. "Sorry, Congrats bro, I'm happy for you, if you or her need anything, and I mean anything just let me know, I'll take care of it and don't worry about time off, take what you need, I'll have you covered" Antonio pulled back and looked him in the eye's "Thanks that means a lot Hank"
The office door opened "Hey Brett are you done eating?" Hank yelled from his door. She looked up and shook her head "Pack it up, you can finish in here" She looked at Antonio questioningly and he nodded and motioned for her to come. She shoved her food back in the bag, grabbed her drink and moved toward the office, the door shut behind her.
"What's going on there, Burgess?" Atwater motioned toward Voight's office, if anyone could get it out of Kim it was him, but truthfully she had no clue. "Honestly don't know, I know they've been back together for a couple months again, that's all I know."
"He's so secretive with his life and he walks in here holding her hand, there's something more going on" Hailey thought out loud.
"You spend a lot of time with him and his kids over at his house and you're good friends with her and his sister and your telling me you know nothing? I call bullshit, Kim you know something." Adam was goading her trying to get her to spill.
"No, I promise I know nothing, she just moved in with Severide a couple of months ago and they just started dating again, they're on and off a lot, it's hard to keep up with."
"She lives with Severide? The hot one on Squad right?" Hailey asked. Jay interrupted her "Yeah, Erin thought he was hot too, he's her ex" Hailey frowned at that information but continued "Why is she living with Severide and dating Antonio, this makes no sense" Hailey commented.
Kim decided to just shut up; she went back to her desk and pretended to be working.
"Didn't she used to live with her Ex...uhh…Cruz right? And the other the other half of that weird bromance…Otis, after she stopped dating Cruz?" Jay vaguely remembered Erin talking about it one time.
"Look guys I know nothing and yeah she did, they're nice guys, all of them over at 51 are, they're like a family. She regards all of them as brothers, just like I do with all of you." she said pointing a finger at each one of them, smirking when she pointed at Adam, Adam mouthed at her "oh really" and raised an eyebrow, the exchange not going unnoticed by Hailey, she would have to ask him about that later.
Voight's door opened and they all turned and looked at the three that just emerged. Voight leaned against his doorframe shoving his hands in his pockets and Antonio guided Sylvie back toward his desk and set her in the chair and he sat on the corner in front of her.
"Look I know you are all out here gossiping like little school girls so we're going to clear a few things up before the rumors start to fly." He met each of their eyes letting them know he was dead serious right now. "What I tell you stays in unit, I don't want any rumors or information coming from any of you, I'm sure you'll hear it from other places but I don't want any of you to be a source and if you don't hear it straight from me or Voight," he pointed over to Voight and all their heads followed, "just assume it isn't true, you can ask me about it but that doesn't mean I will answer, I will give you info if I want to, if I find any info coming from any of you, you're gonna go a round with me, do I make my self clear?" They all nodded, none of them wanted to get into a ring with a pissed off Antonio, even Atwater was terrified of that prospect.
"Yes, I have a girlfriend," he glanced back at Sylvie and continued "I know I don't talk about it, I think work is for work and not personal issues but with that being said I'm going to be out frequently over the next few months and it will be nearly impossible to keep my personal life out of my work life for the foreseeable future so I think it's only fair that I let you know why you will have to pick up my slack and plus I do think of you all as my family…you're the bratty younger siblings but family all the same." Kim stuck her tongue out at him.
He sighed and rubbed his hands together, this was so hard for him; he wasn't one to open up and spill anything out. Sylvie reached up and was rubbing his back trying to comfort him. "Just spit it out, we're here for you brother" Adam encouraged from across the room.
He looked at them all and let out another big sigh, "Sylvie's pregnant, high risk, and on bed rest until the baby is born, she's going to need a lot of help from me, meaning I'm going to need a lot of help from you."
Adam got up and walked straight to him and hugged him, "Congrats brother that's great news, you had me nervous there for a minute, thought you were gonna tell us you were dying or something." Adam laughed.
Hailey leaned over to Jay and whispered "Told you it was something else, still doesn't explain why she lives with Severide though." Jay just looked at her and shook his head. Everyone else started toward Antonio to congratulate him but Kim went straight in for a hug from Sylvie. "Why didn't you tell me? How far along are you?" Sylvie chuckled "Actually I'm six months and we just found out while I was in the hospital, I'll explain it all some other time when there aren't a bunch of ears I really don't know listening." Kim nodded that she understood and looked to Antonio and made a move to hug him tight around the middle, "Congratulations, I'm glad your happy, don't worry about your slack, I got it, just take care of them." She nodded her head toward Sylvie and then kissed him on the cheek.