"Shh…come on you have to go before Abigail is up!" Sylvie hissed trying to move the sleeping body next to her but he wouldn't budge. "Please, this is already confusing enough, she doesn't need to see you here and neither does Jacks." She pleaded pushing him towards the edge of the bed. "Okay, I'm moving." He muttered as he rolled back toward her and tried to grab her.
"No!" She smacked his hand away and hurried out of the bed. "This was a mistake, a tiny slip-up, it's not going to happen again." She whispered as she pulled on her clothes and headed toward the bathroom. "It doesn't need to just be a slip-up; you know we are still technically married." Matt pointed out as he rolled off the bed and headed toward her.
Sylvie stood in the bathroom doorway watching as he came toward her. He was right she thought to herself, they were still technically married but they had been separated for almost a year. If he hadn't come over to bring the divorce papers the night before, they wouldn't be in this predicament. A little too much tequila and reminiscing had landed them right where Sylvie didn't want to be.
"We signed the papers and they're getting filed today. We'll be divorced within the week." She tried to reason with him, but he was standing entirely too close and she couldn't focus. "We don't have to file them, we can still back out." He whispered as he leaned in to kiss her. She pulled back and shut the door quickly stopping herself from doing something she knew she would regret later.
"No, Matt we can't, it's over. We've been over this a million times. You and I don't work, we never have, you're just feeling sentimental that's all; it'll pass, I promise, but right now, I need you to go before the kids wake up." Sylvie begged him through the door. "I'm going to hold on to the papers an extra day so you can really think about what happened last night and if you actually want to go through with this." Matt persisted through the door.
Sylvie heard the bedroom door open and listened for the front door to shut before breathing a sigh of relief, she slid down the door and placed her head between her legs and began to cry. She had worked so hard to keep her feelings for Matt separate from the whole situation, but a little bit of alcohol and she fell into bed with him. She didn't want to be this person; she was able to be friends with Antonio and hadn't even been tempted to sleep with him when they broke up. That probably had something to do with him cheating on her, she thought to herself before shaking her head and pushing herself up to get in the shower.
Sylvie grabbed her phone "Can you take Abbie tonight?" She texted Antonio, knowing it wouldn't be a problem. Sylvie needed a night to be alone so she could think without any distractions. Her phone buzzed, "Sure, is everything okay?" Antonio responded. "We'll talk when you get here." she shot back at him before turning her phone off and heading up to get the kids up.
Sylvie sat at her desk and looked around; she had transferred to headquarters when she found out she was pregnant with Jacks. Matt had insisted that she couldn't be a mom of a baby and a toddler and continue shift work, so she reluctantly left ambo. She hated desk duty but it was a pay increase and she worked normal hours so she could be home every night with the kids. She had turned into the very thing she had ran from when she came to Chicago, a housewife who cooked, clean, and made sure dinner was on the table every night. She sighed and grabbed her phone, "You wanna hang out tonight?" she texted.
Maybe she didn't want to be alone after all and a little girl time was needed. "Picked up an extra shift, sorry or I would." Stella replied. Sylvie rolled her eyes and texted the next person she could think of, "Find a sitter for Abbie and hang out with me tonight?" She stared at the text for several minutes before hitting send.
Antonio felt his phone buzz and looked, he was confused, it was a text from Sylvie asking him to find a sitter for Abbie and to hang out. Sylvie had made it abundantly clear that she wasn't interested but that hadn't stopped him from subtly flirting with her over the last year. "Who's that?" Kim asked as she leaned over his shoulder to look. "Sylvie, she asked me to hang out with her tonight." He showed her the text. "I wish you'd figure out that she's not worth all this, you could've moved on a long time ago." Kim rolled her eyes at him.
Kim and Antonio had been partners for over ten years, she knew him better than anyone else at this point. When he took over the unit after Voight retired three years before he still kept Kim as a partner. They had lost Hailey and Kevin to other units and had several new faces, but Kim was his constant, she never doubted him and never let him get away with his bullshit.
"It's not about her, it's about Abbie." He tried to convince her. Kim laughed, "Keep telling yourself that but you know as well as I do that it's always been about her." She stared him down begging him to refute her. Antonio looked away knowing she could see right through his lies, "Whatever, do you ever mind your own business?"
"Fine, do whatever you want but when you get hurt, I don't want to hear about it." She said as she turned and left his office. Antonio watched her leave and returned his attention back to this phone, he quickly replied "Okay" and texted Eva, who agreed to watch her little sister.
Antonio had never hung out with Sylvie alone with no kids, at least not since they broke up. He was nervous not knowing what to expect, he knew what he was hoping for but didn't want to be disappointed, so he was trying to keep his expectations low. Eva had already picked Abbie up and Jacks had gone with Matt, so it was just her inside the house. He stood and stared at the door wondering if he should knock or just let himself in, he raised his hand to knock but the door swung open and there stood Sylvie smiling at him.
"Hey!" She greeted him, "Hey!" he replied as he brushed past her into the front room. Antonio turned to face her and looked her over, she had on sweats and a big t-shirt with her long blonde curls in a messy bun on top of her head, but damn if she didn't still look just as beautiful as the day Gabby introduced them on the apparatus floor at 51, it seemed like an entire lifetime ago. A lifetime before he had screwed up and lost his family for a second time, a lifetime before he took the one person he can't live without for granted and disappointed and hurt her worse than he had ever done to anyone.
"I have to tell you something, but you have to promise to not breathe a word to anyone." Sylvie startled Antonio out of his thoughts, "Umm, okay? I promise." He agreed. She grabbed his hand and drug him toward the couch, "Sorry, I tried to get Stella and I know this will probably make you a little uncomfortable, but we talk about all sorts of things and we're friends, right?" she could feel herself rambling, it was a nervous habit and she was nervous to tell him. "Yeah, you're my best friend." Antonio confirmed and Sylvie let the breath out she was holding, "Good cause I need to get this off my chest." Sylvie visibly relaxed a little.
Sylvie buried her face in her hands, "Matt came over last night to bring the divorce papers for me to sign and we started drinking and well, umm, we kinda slept together." Sylvie peeked between her fingers to see Antonio's reaction, but his poker face was exceptional.
Internally, Antonio was dying, he thought, hell he didn't know what he thought anymore. He didn't want to upset or disappoint her when she is trusting him with her secret so he did the only thing he could, try to provide her with a little bit of validation. "It's normal, look how many times me and you slept together during our breakups and Laura and I, also during the divorce and after a couple times too."
"God for not being together we did have a lot of sex, didn't we?" Sylvie laughed glad that Antonio had already been through this too. Antonio nodded, still reeling from the secret she had to share with him. "Although, it's not the same as being married, we were only dating." Sylvie pointed out. "We were engaged for part of it." Antonio regretted saying it as soon as her face dropped. "Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up." He apologized, knowing that time was some of their worst memories. "It's okay, it was a long time ago and you're not that person anymore and neither am I." she smiled at him to let him know everything would be okay.
Antonio leaned back against the couch and rubbed his hands down his face, he let himself get disappointed again, she clearly was never going to give him a second chance, not that he deserved it, but he would've still liked another shot. "So, what do you want to do? Drink? Go to a movie? Just chill? We have all night and I have nowhere else to be." He tried to sound upbeat, but his heart was breaking again, and she didn't even know she was doing it.
Sylvie scooted next to him and leaned into his shoulder, "Thanks for always being here for me and Abbie." Antonio wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in tight against him, "You're my family and I love you guys, I'll always be here for both of you." He squeezed her tighter into him. "Can we just order a movie and lay here? I'm exhausted and I never get completely free nights." She yawned and grabbed the blanket and threw it over her lap.
Antonio could here Sylvie breathing and knew she had fallen asleep, they were only forty-five minutes in, and she was completely out. He had to laugh; she never could finish an entire movie, he used to tease her that she was always asleep before the opening credits were done. He didn't know what to do with her, he didn't want to leave her alone on the couch, so he decided to carry her up to her bed where she could get a good night sleep and he would crash on the couch so she wouldn't be all alone in the house.
He laid her down and pulled the covers over her and watched for a couple seconds to make sure she stayed asleep, he felt silly like he was putting Abbie to bed. He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead and whispered, "I love you." Before turning to walk away. He felt a hand grab his and pull him back toward the bed, she pulled him in close and grabbed both sides of his face pulling him even closer and kissed him gently on the lips, "I love you too." She whispered.