Captain Casey

“Hey, do you remember when we first met?”

Sylvie’s question comes in a moment of silence during their spare time in the common room. They decided to spend the free time during their shift writing wedding vows and now, as they sit together on the couch with their proper notepads in hand, the question takes him by surprise. “What?”

“I’m just trying to think of our first meeting for these vows,” she explains, still noticeably deep in thought. “I mean, I know it was when I first came to 51 but I’m racking my brain and I… I can’t remember. Do you?”

“It was a Monday,” he remembers with a grin, shifting closer to her on the couch and letting his arm sling lazily around her shoulders so that she snuggles into his side. “I was sitting right over at that very table, eating my lunch. And this girl—”

“Ooh! That’s me! I’m liking this story time already,” she exclaims excitedly.

“This girl,” he continues. “She walks into the room and shakes hands with my girlfriend. So I think ‘Hey, she must be the new paramedic’. And a call came in about five seconds later, proving I was right.”

“It was the first time I realized how busy this house was going to be,” she tells him fondly.

“Oh yeah. So busy that I didn’t speak one word to you until three hours into your first shift,” Matt says. “I finally see you from down the hall, the one right out there,” he says as he points to outside the common room, “and so I introduce myself. I say hi, my name’s Matt Casey, that I’m a lieutenant here at 51. And you reply—”

“Oh, wait! I remember,” she interjects. “I said ‘I know.’ Gabby had already told me about you.”

“Yep, she had,” he nods. “But you keep talking after that. You said ‘I’m Sylvie Brett. I know I haven’t earned my spot here yet but if you need help with anything, I’m your girl.’”

“Oh god,” she groans in embarrassment while burying her face into his chest. Her notepad even falls off her lap and onto the couch, although he doesn’t dare look at what she’s written so far for her vows. He respects her privacy and honestly, he wants to be surprised anyway. “I wanted you guys to like me so bad back when I first came to 51. I’m surprised I didn’t offer to do all of your taxes or something. God, what a wreck.”

“No! No,” he protests. “It was sweet. You were probably the friendliest person I’d ever met. It was a lot to take in at the time, to be honest, but we were all reeling from losing Shay. We couldn’t see what you’d come to mean to us just yet. And you know what?”

She gnaws at her lip as she unburies her face from his chest to look up at him. “What?”

“Here we are, after almost ten years of not seeing what was right in front of us, and you’re still my girl.”

Ok, look. Sylvie knows they weren’t love at first sight. She knows things don’t work like that in the real world, that their relationship didn’t build into something more until years later and that they weren’t at all interested in and/or prepared for each other back then. But seeing him remember their first meeting so vividly, seeing him smile at it, hearing him call her his girl… It’s the closest she’s ever felt to the idea that somehow, she and Matt were fate. Meant to be.

And now, after a little romantic reflection and nostalgia, she knows exactly what she wants to put in her vows.

Matt: you said “this is gonna confuse me so much tomorrow”. apparently drunk you likes to play pranks on sober you.

Sylvie:

ok fuck it, ✨kelly severide icons✨

One Chicago Appreciation Week

Header credits to: @evanbukley

✨  Starting September 1st - 7th ✨

Hey guys, I thought it would be amazing to do a One Chicago appreciation week to celebrate our favourite characters and all things we love about the shows. The week will be starting on Wednesday the 1st of September and will run until Tuesday 7th. If you’re busy during the appointed week you can always upload your creations afterwards. Tag your posts as #OCWeek2021 I can’t wait to see what amazing content you all create! If you have any questions feel free to ask!

For Fanfic writers - theme for the week is angst, hurt/comfort and whump

Day 1 - “I can’t think straight with you!”

Day 2 - “If we don’t get out of here-” “We will!”

Day 3 - “I think you’re bleeding…”

Day 4 - “You promised!” “I guess we both broke our promises”

Day 5 - “I don’t… I don’t feel good.”

Day 6 - “Don’t go. Please. I can’t lose you.”

Day 7 - “Take a deep breath-” “It hurts.” “I know, but you have to breath.”

Gif/Edit/Video makers

Day 1 - Favorite Female Character

Day 2 - Favorite Male Character

Day 3 - Favorite Relationship

Day 4 - Favorite Friendship

Day 5 - Favorite Episode

Day 6 - Favorite Recuse/Emergency/Pursuit Scene

Day 7 - Anything That You’d Like to Make

double trouble: [character] is sick and injured.

I will be writing the manner minded one separately :) I hope you enjoy this (somewhat more detailed than I'd originally planned) ficlet.

Send prompts to my inbox.

+ + +

If you were to ask Matt Casey if he thought he was lucky, for the most part he would answer with 'no'. Yes, he's lucky enough to have Sylvie Brett as a girlfriend, lucky to have gone to the fire academy, lucky to have been promoted to a lieutenant and then captain. But he also had an emotionally abusive father as a teenager, a murderer for a mother, his girlfriend of eight years was killed, his wife left him. For every good thing, it feels like there are three bad things in his life.

So he can't even really say it's a surprise when, while on scene helping squad rescue two victims in a car that's balancing precariously close to the frozen Chicago River, Matt loses his balance, slips from the hood of the car, and falls almost twelve feet onto the ice that then suddenly cracks underneath him, submerging him in below forty degree water. Nothing in his life is ever easy. Intense pain radiates from his chest, his body feels like it's on fire, and then nothing.

From there, the scene is absolute chaos. Sylvie and Violet are both off shift, spending the entire week in Joliet helping teach at a conference. The two paramedics that are on scene are instantly calling for backup, while both Severide and Tony frantically suit up in scuba gear for precaution. Boden's yelling orders, but the three other members of truck are all frozen, staring at the large hole in the ice, from which their Captain is currently very much not getting out of.

+ + +

"Christie, you really don't have to do this, Severi-"

"I know what Severide said, but I'd feel more comfortable if you stayed with me." Christie Casey frowns, looking at her younger brother. He's at least four shades paler than he should be, cheeks flushed and eyes dull. Stubble consumes the lower half of his face, and the firefighter looks exhausted. She can't say that she blames him, not with the hell that he's gone through the past thirty six hours.

She'd gotten the call from Stella Kidd yesterday, a kind but shaky voice telling her that Casey, Matt, had fallen into an icy river, and was at Gaffney Chicago Medical Center being treated for two broken ribs and mild hypothermia. Arriving half an hour later, she'd been taken into Matt's room, where they had him on enough pain medication he was basically incoherent. One of the doctors had explained to her that the next few hours were important for any person who'd almost drowned- inhalation of the river water had occurred, and aspiration pneumonia was a large possibility. For a naive moment, Christie was certain that Matt would be fine.

Matt's never that lucky.

It's how she finds herself now, half glaring at her brother, who's been given instructions to stay with someone for the next forty eight hours, while his body wars with itself. The red haired doctor had explained that unless the mans fever reaches over 102, or his breathing deteriorates, he's allowed to stay out of the hospital. Severide's offered to let him stay at the loft, to take next shift off and watch over his best friend, but she tells her brothers best friend no. She needs to be able to watch over her little brother, if his paramedic girlfriend can't.

She's already talked to Sylvie, had called her only an hour after getting the call herself. They'd come to the conclusion that as long as someone was there to watch Matt, she needed to finish up the week for the CFD and CEMS.

"You ready to leave? I'm bringing you back to my place. Violet's got the guest room all ready for you."

Matt blinks and then nods, shoulders curved in slightly, one arm wrapped around his side. He looks a little woozy, though that could be from the pain pills being pumped through his body. That, or the fever he's sporting. April wheels him to the front of the hospital while Christie grabs her car and pulls it up to the curb.

Half an hour later, Matt's being helped into the guest room, where, sure enough, the bed has fresh sheets and a few extra pillows have been added for the man who isn't supposed to lay flat on his back. She gets him under the covers, thankful he's cooperating, and by the time she's back with the meds in a little plastic cup, as well as a glass of water, Matt's asleep.

"Matt, hey, you have to wake up and take your medicine, then you can go back to sleep, okay?" She shakes him as gently as possible, not wanting to hurt his ribs any more than they already are. She must knock something loose though, because not a second later he starts coughing, low and harsh, and his eyes flutter open. Gasping for air, they wait for his chest to stop spasming. His arm is cradling his side and she feels terrible, wishing she could help.

"I just need you to take this medicine, then you can sleep again," she promises, holding the cup out for him. When he nods, the woman lets the small pills tumble onto his open palm, and soon he's swallowing them tiredly.

"C-Can you stay?" The words are quiet and hang in the air as she turns to leave. Pausing, Christie turns back and is struck by just how young Matt looks, laying there with fever flushed cheeks and sallow skin.

Moving slowly, the woman gets into the other side of the bed, carefully shifting to get comfortable.

"Just like old times huh?"

She knows he's referring to their childhood. Christie can't help but smirk a little at the memories.

"Are you talking about when you would come crying to me because you were afraid of the dark?" Her tone is teasing, and instinctively she lets her fingers find his hair, running them through it just like she did when they were young teens and their father had been yelling at them.

A laugh bubbles out of Matt's throat, but it quickly changes to coughing, and it takes a moment for Matt to calm down, sipping water before replying.

"I was actually talking about when I was eight and caught whatever that punk across the street had after he coughed on me. I remember I was out of school for a week, and you stayed with me as much as you could."

She remembers it well.

+ + +

Matt never gets sick, not when he was a baby, and not now. She's always been the one to come down with colds or strep throat, and Matt always manages to avoid germs. He had been sick once when he was a toddler, once, but other than that, she can't remember him ever even getting a runny nose. And then Michael Jeffries goes and coughs all over him on the bus when she's in fifth grade and he's in third, and Matt's record of not getting sick goes down the drain.

It had been on a Monday. That following Thursday afternoon, Christie's waiting for Matt to get on the bus when their bus driver tells her that her brother has apparently gone home early. The whole ride home, the eleven year old is upset, not for her brother, but at the fact she wasn't taken out early either. Why did Matt get to go home and play when she didn't? By the time she's walking into their small home, the blonde is stomping her feet and slamming the door behind her, ready to ask why her stupid brother gets such special treatment.

Instantly though, she realizes something is wrong. Mommy isn't downstairs like she normally is, but instead of being worried, the girl let sher anger build. Running up the stairs, her ponytail swaying behind her, Christie's ready to yell and throw a tantrum, but she freezes when she sees her mom sitting on Matt's small twin bed. She's holding their big blue bowl that she always gets out when Christie's stomach is sick, and Matt is throwing up, coughing and spluttering after, while she rubs his back. Cautiously, Christie walks into the doorway.

"Mommy...what wrong with Matt?"

Nancy and Matt look up, the older woman rubbing her sons back.

"Matt's just not feeling well honey, he'll be alright."

Christie frowns and looks at her brother, whose cheeks are a startling bright pink, his skin pale.

"He looks really sick..." Suddenly she's not mad at all anymore, instead she's worried, no, scared. Matt doesn't get sick. That's his superpower, just like hers is liking vegetables.

Before any more words are spoken, Matt coughs and lets out a strangled little whine. "M-Mommy..."

Christie turns her face away as Matt gets sick this time, not wanting to watch anyone throw up. Instead, she goes and busies herself with finding paper and her crayons. Sitting down on her bedroom floor, the eleven year old goes to town with making her brother a get well soon card, the only thing she knows she can do in this moment.

That night, while she and mommy eat downstairs, Christie can hear Matt crying with Daddy. The second she finishes her food and washes her plate off, the blonde runs upstairs, wanting to make sure the younger boy is okay. She stops in front of his room, but no one's there, the twin sized bed with dark green sheets is empty, even his beloved stuffed bear is gone. Walking further down the hall, she sees the two she's been looking for in her parents king sized bed.

Matt's laying against Daddy, Bear clutched in his hand, his ear against the boys lip. Daddy smiles at her and puts a finger to his lips, telling her to be quiet. Nodding, Christie tiptoes in and peers at them both, before climbing in putting a delicate hand on Matt's shoulder, hoping he'll be ok.

+ + +

Brought back to the present, Christie feels Matt's forehead and sighs. "just try and sleep okay? I'll be here if you need me, okay? I won't let anything bad happen to you Matt."

stellaride headers

12 headers // 700x400

+ textures, background gifs & borders

requested by @selenaurrr​​​​​

please do not claim as your own

You anons keep throwing angst at me and I keep spinning it into the least angsty option possible aslirjefw-- I really like this one though, enjoy :)

64. "Yell, scream, cry. Please, just say something, anything."

Sylvie's avoiding him.

Stella and Severide's wedding is finally here and ever since the invites had been sent out, Sylvie and Matt had agreed to go together. Sylvie had made some teasing comment about how tacky and predictable it is for the maid of honour and the best man to get together but other than that, she'd been thrilled to go to this wedding with him-- almost more than he was.

Until now, that is, when he's looking around the reception area and noticing that Sylvie isn't anywhere in sight. He looks to the group of other bridesmaids but she isn't there. Matt asks Herrmann, Mouch, Ritter, Gallo. Everyone in the firehouse and people who don't work there too. Even the bride and groom themselves don't know where she is, just realizing themselves that she's nowhere in sight— that she hasn’t been for the past hour. Come to think of it, she hadn’t seemed so happy in the car on the way the wedding either, just distraught and a little pale. No one seems to know where Sylvie went. She's definitely avoiding him and Matt has no idea why. It stresses him out to no end, until he has to loosen his tie and rubs at his temples constantly.

And ok, it's one thing to ditch your date to a wedding if it's your first date, or if you get nervous. But he and Sylvie have been dating for nearly six months now. At this point, the number of excuses for why she could be avoiding him are running dangerously low. He racks his brain for why she'd feel the need to run away. Did he do something wrong?

He's walking past the bathrooms and thinks nothing of it until he stops dead in his tracks. The women's bathroom look empty right now but it's possible she could be there hiding. Not that he'd know, since he can't exactly waltz into the women's bathroom. So he stands at the door and calls out for her. "Sylvie? Are you in there?"

There a deafening silence for a moment, until he finally hears Sylvie's mousy voice come from the bathroom. "No," she replies shyly.

"Sylvie," he sighs. "Can you please come on out?"

"Fine,” she concedes with a groan.

He stands outside the door waiting and after a few minutes, she finally comes out, sniffling quietly. Her bridesmaid’s dress is wrinkled at the edges when he sees her, her mascara slightly smudged around her eyes. She looks upset and panicked. It worries him even more.

“Talk to me, Sylvie,” he pleads. “Did I do something? Why have you been avoiding me for the entire wedding?”

“I… I can’t—….” She stutters, fumbling to find the words.

“If you’re mad at me then we can deal with that but I just need you to talk to me, Sylvie. Yell, scream, cry. Please, just say something, anything.”

She stands there, gnawing at her lip and eyeing him nervously, before exhaling. “I’m pregnant.”

His heart stops beating.

“What?”

“I’m— I’m pregnant,” she repeats, pulling out the test. “I wasn’t feeling well. At first I thought it was the shrimp from the buffet but I remembered feeling nauseous during shift the other day too. So I ran to the drug store to buy a test— which let me tell you, isn’t fun when you’re trying hard not to vomit— and then I went to the bathroom to take the test. When it came back positive I didn’t want to leave and have to explain why I wasn’t drinking the wine, and why I was so freaked out, and then an hour passed and… well, now I’m here.”

“You’re… I mean we’re… pregnant?”

“Yeah,” she confirms, her face wincing. “How do you feel about all of this?”

His face slowly lights up as everything clicks into place. It explains everything: why she’d been avoiding him, why she’d looked so pale in the car on the ride there, why she’s been so freaked out. Only she has no reason to be. Even though it’s all very sudden, even though there’s about a million things they need to figure out, even though they aren’t even married, there isn’t a single reason she should be scared. Because without even knowing it, in one sentence alone, Sylvie Brett has given him everything Matt’s ever dreamed of.

They’re going to be family.

A relieved smile eases her face as soon as she sees how excited he is. Before she can say anything, he responds only by abruptly crashing into her with a hug and picking her up to spin her around. She giggles in his ear. The feeling is familiar— it’s the way he’s spent countless happy moments with Sylvie, like when he got the results from his head injury, and it’s the way he always wants to spend those moments. They spin around in a blur of relief and excitement and overwhelming joy, her mascars staining the tiniest edge of his dress shirt after burying her face in his shoulder for the hug.

When he puts her back down on the ground, all the worry in her eyes is gone. All that’s left is a beaming grin as her hands brush over his cheeks. She kisses him, inhaling sharply as she catches his bottom lip, and then pulls away.

“We’re a family,” she says softly.

Honestly I love this friendship so much. SO MUCH.

Matt Casey has had to learn to sleep with earplugs. So. Many. Earplugs.

He feels very guilty for Severide moving in with he and Gabby when they were newly engaged, because he feels like this is Severide's revenge. (It's not even on Kelly's radar but if he knew Matt was thinking this he'd tell him it was)

When Stella moves in Matt's nervous, because like Kelly is his ride or die best friend may as well be his brother, but Stella's his subordinate in work! What if they start bringing work disagreements home?

But he quickly realises that he was slightly overreacting because they just get along really well, and he gets to discover who Stella Kidd actually is.

They take turns cooking, and when it's Kelly's turn to cook it's either steak or takeout. Matt and Stella have no complaints on this.

The three of them usually drive separately to work so they can get their heads on straight and go from being housemates to coworkers, but the days they do drive together are some of Matt's favourites. The three singing along to stupid songs in the car (usually Stella's jeep), teasing each other.

He's not quite sure when it happens, but by the time the Stellaride engagement happens he's started seeing Stella as his little sister.

(It was off screen but I'm CONVINCED when he found out about the engagement he gave Kelly a shovel talk. Like full on "you're my brother and I love you but PLEASE DO NOT FUCK THIS UP")

When Sylvie moved to Fowlerton with the chaplain Kelly tried cheering Stella and Matt up. It didn't really work, but he did his best.

Around the firehouse people are used to everyone living together because it's an expensive city, but the way the three of them manage to work together without even saying a word is different.

Like with the Roomdogs they were all on different rigs and didn't work as closely together. But Matt's technically Kelly's superior officer (even though Squad works alone a lot) and he's definitely Stella's. But they just can tell each other what to do with a look.

Stella thought it'd be weird moving in with them. She loves Kelly, wants to live with him, but thought living with Matt would be the worst thing ever.

Then one day after a night out with Sylvie and Emily she arrives into the main area of the loft and Matt has pancakes and bacon cooking for her because it's his usual hangover cure for Kelly so he thought it'd help her.

That cements their friendship from coworkers who live together to actual friends.

He's definitely asked her advice about what to buy Violet for her birthdays, because Stella's really the only woman he's close to that he isn't struggling with romantic feelings for.