Paramedic in Charge

Chapter 2

After resupplying the ambulance at Chicago Med, Sylvie had stopped off at the coffee shop that she had promised to introduce Alexa to on their way back to the firehouse.

"This is good coffee," Alexa said approvingly. They were back in the ambulance, parked out front of the little family-run shop.

"Good prices, too," Sylvie said, savouring her first caffeine hit of the shift. "So, are you going to tell me what Dr Halstead meant by his comment? Something about you being enough to turn a good girl bad?"

"I think I'll leave that to your imagination, Sylvie," Alexa said, her eyes gleaming and a cute, innocent little smile on her face.

She's in 'actress mode' again, Sylvie thought. But she had the impression that the comment was of a sexual nature, therefore implying that Alexa was into women. She considered it impolite to straight up ask her new partner if she was gay, so instead she decided to drop the subject.

"What about hobbies then?" she asked instead. So far, she was uncertain of Alexa, and therefore needed to know more about her.

"Hobbies? I'm addicted to coffee and addicted to anything to do with Disney. And I love to cosplay."

"Oh, okay. I've never done that," Sylvie said, making it clear that she was interested. "I've dressed up for Halloween, but that's about it."

Alexa smiled over the top of her coffee cup. "I'm sure you've had some good costumes though. What else do you like to do?"

"Oh, I'm a boring person," Sylvie said, suddenly feeling embarrassed. "I like to draw, read, or binge watch TV series in my free time."

Alexa drank some coffee, making quick progress with it. "Boring is a subjective thing. Everyone finds different things entertaining. Everyone finds different things boring. What do you draw?"

"People, or landscapes. My drawings are nothing special. It's just a hobby. Something to pass the time, you know?"

"I do know."

Sylvie drank some coffee and looked at Alexa. She was such a beautiful woman. It wasn't even fair how some people won the genetic lottery like that. To her embarrassment, Alexa looked at her and their eyes met. Sylvie looked away, wondering exactly why she was embarrassed. Was it because she had been caught looking? Or was there something else to it? She decided to shake it off and get back to work.

"Back to 51," she said, firing up the engine.

"Let's do it," Alexa said in a relaxed manner.

Soon they were back at the firehouse, where they could go their separate ways for a while.

"I'm going to finish unpacking my stuff," Alexa said, heading for the locker room.

"Okay. Come find me when you've done that and I'll introduce you to Chief Boden."

"Okay. I've heard his name before."

Sylvie nodded. "He's a good man. Very good Chief. Doesn't take any crap though."

Alexa giggled, already walking off. "I'll consider myself warned."

Heading into the canteen area, Sylvie found Stella Kidd there, having just made herself a coffee. Mouch, Herrmann and Gallo were sitting at a table, thick as thieves like they always were.

"How did that go?" Kidd asked, setting off for her office. Sylvie walked with her, glancing around to make sure Alexa wasn't going to overhear.

"Her work was good. Competent. Professional. But I don't know what to make of her. I have mixed signals so far."