Disclaimer: These characters are not mine. They belong to NBC, Derek Haas, Michael Brandt and everyone else who rightfully owns the Chicago Fire universe. I'm just playing with them.Tag to 8x11 "Where We End Up." As anyone who saw the episode will realize, the set up for this story is taken directly from that episode.

While Firehouse 51 was being fumigated, headquarters assigned everyone to base out of Firehouse 20.

Between calls, Brett went looking for Casey. Rounding the back of a firetruck, she found him.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt," she began.

Casey glanced at her. "No, please. Join me. I'm just filling out paperwork." He gestured for her to have a seat beside him.

She obliged. "I wanted to let you know I followed up on that girl we took to Med this morning from the car fire."

Casey looked up from his report and inquired, "How is she?"

Brett quickly recounted what April had told her about the girl, which Casey was pleased to hear. She paused, her eyes never leaving his, debating how to say what she wanted to next. "It's funny…" Casey furrowed his brow as she continued, "One of the first things you learn at the academy is you get the patient to the hospital as best you can and you don't look back, that it's the only way to survive mentally, but as soon as I started at 51, I noticed nobody follows that rule here, especially you." Casey laughed a bit. Brett smiled at him. "I mean you - you follow up. You do more whenever you can, so when I found out she was going to be okay, I knew how much it would mean to you."

Casey was touched by Brett's thoughtfulness. He smiled at her, grateful that she was so open with him. Her friendship meant the world to him, especially after Gabby left. Since then, the two had grown even closer. He treasured what they had, but there was a part of him that wanted more. It was then he realized just how long they'd held each others' eyes, and suddenly it felt too intimate. He looked away and responded meekly, "Well, it's why we all do the job, right?"

She nodded, "It is, but you're a little extra that way."

Casey cocked his head at her, eyebrows raised, a question on his lips. Before he had the chance to voice it, however, the bells went off and the two of them jumped up, running to their respective rigs.

Around an hour later, everyone pulled back into Firehouse 20. They stripped their gear and scattered. Casey glanced around, looking for Brett. There were many things he wanted to add to their conversation from before the call. He heard her laugh float from the back of the ambulance, his head snapping toward it. He saw Foster hop out of the back, a big smile on her lips. Clearly the two were joking around about something. He decided to try to talk to Brett later, and walked off to find a place to work on his reports.

Shift ended four hours later. Casey again went in search of Brett, hoping to talk to her away from the others. He found her chatting with Kidd and Foster. She had her back to him. The other two women shared a look, then hurriedly found reasons to get going home. Brett, a little shocked, sighed. "Okay bye, I guess."

"Hey," Casey said softly.

Brett turned around. When she saw Matt, the other two disappearing suddenly made more sense. "Hey yourself," she replied.

"What was that all about?" He asked.

"They, uh, they think," Brett started, but then thought better of it, finishing, "actually, it was nothing." Stella and Emily were convinced that she and Matt were budding a romance. While she wouldn't be opposed to that, she also wanted him to be the one to initiate it. They'd both been through so much, and she treasured his friendship above everything else.

"I was thinking about going for some breakfast, but it's weird going out by myself. Would you maybe want to come along?"

"You know I can't turn down food!" Brett said, beaming. Cruz is probably waiting in the car for me. Let me tell him to go on without me and I'll jump in with you, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, that's great." Casey couldn't help the smile spreading across his face as he walked to his truck while Brett went to talk to Cruz.

A couple minutes later, Sylvie jumped in Matt's truck and buckled up. "Where to, Captain?"

Matt smirked at her use of his title. "I was thinking IHOP or something simple like that."

"Sounds good to me! I'm starving!"

On the drive, they kept the conversation light. It wasn't long before they arrived at the restaurant and went inside. They spent the meal joking around and talking about how glad they were that tensions between Firehouses 51 and 20 had finally resolved. It wasn't until they were almost home that Matt dared to let the conversation turn deeper.

He took a deep breath. Sylvie turned to look at him. "What's on your mind, Matt?"

Well, he thought, it's now or never. "You, actually."

Sylvie gasped, then laughed. "Me?"

He met her eyes. "Yeah."

She gave him a questioning look, tilting her head to one side. He found a parking spot in front of the apartment she shared with Cruz.

"Um, do you want to come inside?" She asked. Upon seeing his hesitation, she continued, "it's okay, Joe went to spend the weekend at Chloe's."

He smiled at her and shut off the truck. When they got inside, Sylvie locked the door behind them and kicked her shoes off.

"Make yourself at home," she said, then pointed. "The bathroom is over there. I'm going to grab a drink. Do you want anything?"

Matt smiled as she rambled off a list of drinks and he made his pick before slipping off to use the restroom. When he came back, Sylvie was sitting to one side of the couch. He plopped down on the other side and grabbed his drink.

"So, Matt, why was I on your mind?" Sylvie ventured.

"I - I, uh," Matt took a sip, trying to find the right words. "I was thinking about what you said about me being a little extra."

"What about it?"

"It's just… you are too, you know? You take time and you notice people and how they're feeling. You care." He scooted closer to her and his eyes found hers. "Sylvie, you are so important to me. You've helped me through so much, especially when Gabby left. You were always there for me and I - I don't know where I'd be without you."

Sylvie couldn't help but tear up at his compliment. Feeling bold, she reached out and took his hand in hers. "You know I'll always be here, right?" she asked.

Matt brought their joined hands up toward his face and, watching closely for her reaction, brushed a kiss on her fingers. With his free hand, he wiped the tear that had fallen down her cheek. When she leaned into him, he wrapped his arm around her and pressed a kiss to her temple. Sylvie beamed and snuggled closer. The two stayed like that, content to just be in each other's company.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I'm thinking about continuing this story, but wanted to leave it here for now and see what kind of response I get. I hope you enjoyed it!