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“Freeze!”
Sylvie reacts instinctively, coming to an abrupt halt as her head snaps up in the direction of her best friend’s voice. She’d been on her way back from the bathrooms, her head down, eyes focused on her wrist as she adjusted her watch band, rounding the corner into the common room only to be paralyzed by the sudden, loud command.
Her eyes find Stella’s and the paramedic is filled with dread at the sight of such a bright, giddy grin on the other woman’s face. Her eyes flit about the room with a growing sense of panic as she sees she’s suddenly the center of attention, each one of her co-workers sporting their own mischievous smile.
Movement at her side draws Sylvie’s attention and she realizes she isn’t the only one who’s been caught unawares by Kidd. Her eyes catch Kelly’s as they stand frozen before the rest of the room, matching frowns furrowing their brows in confusion. It seems he’d been entering the room from the other direction at the same time as her.
They turn back towards Stella as she rounds the table she’d been sitting at behind the couch, pulling her phone out and practically skipping towards them. “Let me just-” she says, tapping on her phone before holding it up towards the befuddled duo. “There we go. Wouldn’t want to forget this,” she practically giggles.
Sharing another perplexed look with Severide, Sylvie finally opens her mouth. “Forget what? What’s going on?”
Stella doesn’t answer, just flicks her eyes above their heads, her lips rolling between her teeth in an effort to contain her smile. They follow her line of sight to find a very familiar green sprig hanging from the archway.
“Get to it, lovebirds!” Herrmann shouts, opening the gates to more ribbing from their audience.
“Plant one on her already, Severide!”
“Don’t be shy, Brett!”
“What’s wrong? Chicken?”
Sylvie can feel her eyes go wide as she finally understands the situation she’s in. She focuses back on Severide automatically, breath hitching as her mind whirls with the possibilities. What’s she supposed to do? What does she want to do? What does she want him to do?
She finds Kelly looking back at her with the same questions painted across his face, brows raised in his signature look of bafflement. The poor man was just as stumped as she was. She can tell by the empty mug in his hand that he’d probably just been coming in to refill his coffee and had been put on the spot, same as her.
A familiar ringing over the intercom has everyone holding their breath as they wait to hear who’s being called out. As soon as Ambo 61 is named, groans of disappointment fill the common room and Sylvie sighs, tension leaving her.
“Saved by the bell,” Kelly says with an uptick of his lips.
“Literally,” Sylvie replies with a shaky chuckle before nodding and spinning on her heel, rushing out the door and onto the apparatus floor. She tries to shake off the sudden release of nerves as she opens the driver side door of the rig and slides in, joined by Foster on the other side.
“You guys got lucky,” her partner teases with a smile as she buckles her seatbelt.
“Yeah,” Sylvie agrees halfheartedly with a stiff smile. “Lucky.” Because that’s how she’s supposed to feel right? Lucky? Relieved that she didn’t have to kiss Kelly Severide in front of their whole house? That’s how a sane friend or colleague with completely platonic feelings would react, right? Right. And she is. She swears.
Mostly.
Because she can’t deny that there’s a small part of her that’s disappointed too. Disappointed that her one and only chance to kiss Kelly Severide was stolen from her before she’d even fully comprehended that the chance existed in the first place.
Sylvie forces the raging thoughts and feelings down, stuffs them in a box in her heart, and focuses on driving. Because that’s her job, and other people’s lives depend on her ability to focus. Thankfully, their call wasn’t anything major, just a kid with a broken arm at an ice skating rink. Nothing too draining.
The rest of shift Sylvie played it safe, entering and exiting the common room from the side entrances, careful not to get caught again. She and Severide get shit from everyone for the rest of shift. Even Herrmann and Mouch getting caught under it together and refusing to participate didn’t take the heat off of them. By the next morning, Sylvie was ready to tear it down and set the stupid plant on fire. Not a very healthy urge, especially for a firefighter, but after nearly 24 hours of taunting, she was feeling distinctly destructive. She may love her house, but right now she could kill them all.
It was easy to tell by one look at the man that Kelly was feeling the same way. He’d spent more time in his office with the door shut this shift than out of it. It made her feel irrationally guilty. Kelly was already a pretty antisocial guy to begin with. Getting him out of his office and to open up inside the firehouse was hard enough as it was before adding all the extra attention.
Shift was finally over and Sylvie was looking forward to her next two days off away from her “loving” friends and family at 51. It was the only thing getting her through her walk to her car as everyone exited as one, still egging them on about the missed kiss.
“Alright, enough,” she heard a familiar voice huff from behind her before a hand grabbed hers and she was suddenly being spun around, colliding chest-to-chest with Kelly. Before she could catch up with what was happening, Sylvie found his hands on either side of her face as his lips met hers. She didn’t question it, just sank into his embrace, her arms sliding around his waist, letting him take control of the kiss. It was hard and desperate, and full of 24 hours worth of pent up tension.
The sounds of cheering and wolf-whistling broke them apart with a gasp as Sylvie swayed against him. She met his eyes, completely ignoring their friends around them, unconcerned with their reactions or opinions.
She could feel the blush heating up her cheeks in the cold December air, sure they were bright red. “That was--wow,” she breathed, causing him to smile, his hands still cradling her face.
“Yeah, it was,” he says softly, his eyes dropping to her lips briefly before he takes a small step backwards, his hands moving down to brush her arms.
Sylvie follows his lead and takes a step back of her own, her head dropping bashfully. Before she can worry or move too far away, he takes a hold of her hand, gaining her attention once more. He raises his brows at the crowd surrounding them, and they take the hint, laughing as they continue on to their cars.
Once they’re all a sufficient distance away he looks back at Sylvie. “Breakfast? It’s on me,” he asks hopefully, and Sylvie feels her belly fill with butterflies she hasn’t had since she was in high school.
“Yeah. Definitely,” she answers with a big smile.
He lets go of her hand to slide his arm around her shoulder and begins guiding them to his car, pressing a brief kiss to her hair.
Sylvie leans into him, her heart pounding with giddy excitement as she laughs. “Thank God for Mistletoe.”