good/right/real

Chapter 33: Hesitate

Summary:Mills finds out.

Matt paces in his quarters after he and Sylvie part ways. Sylvie goes to find Welch and makes Matt sequester himself so he can't interrupt. Severide knocks on his door jamb and Matt looks up expectantly.

"What's up with you?" Severide asks with a furrowed brow.

Matt leans closer to Kelly and speaks quietly. "Welch knows about Sylvie and me."

"Oh, shit," he curses. "About how the two of you met?"

"Yeah, sort of," Matt says with a groan. "He overheard us talking. From what I know we said, it wouldn't take a genius to put two and two together. Sylvie's gone to talk to him now. Hopefully, she can keep him from doing anything with what he knows or else..."

"Or else he could ruin yours and Sylvie's reputations," Kelly finished for him. "What an asshole."

Sylvie bursts into the bunkroom and stomps toward the locker room. Both Kelly and Matt turn to look as she noisily moves through the room.

"Well," Matt says with a tired sigh. "That can't be good."

"Good or not, you're not punching Tommy Welch," Severide orders. "Without Boden here Pridgen will bounce your ass. We both know it."

Matt huffs but nods his agreement. "Fine. Unless he's touched even a single hair on her head and then all bets are off."

"Fair enough. In that case, I'll even help," Severide concurs.

They leave his quarters and head for the locker room. They find Sylvie sitting on the bench in front of her locker looking shellshocked with worry.

"Brett?" Severide asks. "Everything okay?"

"No," she says in a clipped tone. "By the time I found Welch, he'd already phoned his old buddies at 105. He says he'll try and contain it to his old house, but we all know it's too late. The cat's out of the bag, and I'm going to end up collateral damage in a war of male egos. Exactly what I didn't want."

"I'm surprised he agreed to contain it in the first place," Matt says in surprise.

"Me too," she says with a bitter chuckle. "He claimed he didn't think about how it would affect me. Which isn't surprising at all for a misogynistic ass so I'm tempted to believe him."

She suddenly sits up ramrod straight and both Matt and Kelly watch a slow look of horror overtake her face.

"Oh no," Sylvie says as she frantically fumbles to get her phone out of her pocket. "No, no, no!"

"What?" Matt asks as he sits down next to her and places a hand on her back.

"Pete's at 105!" She shouts. "If Welch spread it around 105–shit." She stands and points to her phone. "Sorry, I should—"

Matt waves her toward the exit encouragingly. "Yeah, of course. Go."

They watch her and walk away in silence. Once she's gone, Matt can't hold back his thoughts any longer.

"She's in this mess because Welch is out to get me. She's right. She's collateral damage. She doesn't fucking deserve that," Matt says angrily as he kicks his own locker.

"Alright," Severide says with a tense tick of his jaw. "Maybe I'll let you punch him."

Matt shakes his head. "No, you were right. That's exactly what he wants. I'm not giving him the satisfaction. We just have to get through this so Boden can get Welch the hell out of here since Pridgen doesn't give a shit. He seems to care more about bullying my guys than doing his job. Dick."