"Um, excuse me?"

The men in black suits turned around slowly, frowning ever so slightly at the woman dressed in a firefighter's Class A uniform that had spoken to them.

Taylor gave them her very best cheerleader smile and used her best perky voice, "Hi. Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you gentlemen happened to be business associates of Mr. Accardo?"

They shared a clandestine look before the taller man slowly answered. "Yes. And you are…?"

Her cheesy smile transformed into something that was a little on the sinister side, "Shelby Severide. I'm the firefighter you've been trying to kill."

Again, the men shared a look. "I don't know what you're talking about." tall guy replied coolly.

"Didn't figure you would. I just wanted to introduce myself. I hope that this tragedy will put to rest whatever quarrel you had with me." She reached into her coat pocket, "I brought you something."

The men looked warily at Taylor's outstretched fist for several moments. Finally, the taller man held his hand out. The weight that filled his palm was surprising.

It was a railroad spike.

"What's this for?" the shorter man asked.

This was quickly becoming fun. Taylor kept her tone nonchalant, "Do either of you know how much force it takes to put one of those through a human skull?"

The look that passed between the two mobsters was considerably less composed than the previous looks had been. Tall guy spoke with caution, "No, I'm afraid we don't."

She had their attention now. It was honestly a little thrilling to know that she scared them. "It's not as much as you might think. A sharp end is a plus – it takes a lot of the twisting out of it if you hit the temple just right." She took a threatening step toward them and dropped her voice to a snarl, "This ends now. I am tired of looking over my shoulder. I am tired of worrying about my husband's safety. I am tired of worrying about my family's safety. And I'm just crazy enough to do something about it."

They had no response for her.

Taylor straightened her coat, completely composed, "Good day, gentlemen." She turned on her heel and marched back toward the rescue truck, spotting Voight and Severide – her cover for this little escapade – to her left and right. The detective got to her first.

Voight clapped her shoulder, "I like you Taylor. I like how you operate. You ever think about joining intelligence?" He'd been within earshot the whole time.

Taylor stopped, "Voight, there's three kinds 'a people in this world." – she ticked off each one on a finger – "Sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. Sheep can't defend themselves. They either don't know how to defend themselves, don't believe in it, or just turn a blind eye to the events and threats of the world. When danger comes knocking at their door, they're easily slaughtered. This whole city is full of sheep. Wolves prey on sheep. And on other wolves. They're vicious, soulless, ruthless bullies. You are a wolf." She gestured to herself, "Now, me, I'm a firefighter. We're sheepdogs. We protect both our families and the sheep by whatever means necessary. Sheepdogs don't generally get along with wolves."

Voight smiled as he pressed a business card into her hand, "Well, if you ever change your mind, call me."

"Thanks." She folded the card up into the cuff of her sleeve, pulled something from her pocket and pushed it into the hand that had just given her the business card.

The detective stared down at the railroad spike that now rested in his hand.

"Catch you later." She started walking again, wanting to get as far away from him as possible without looking like she was running. Severide finally got to her, and put an arm around her shoulder as they turned to leave.

"Hey, Sheepdog!" Voight called.

They paused and Taylor leered at him over her shoulder. There were enough firefighters present to ensure that the nickname would more than likely stick. Great. There were worse nicknames, she supposed.

He pointed to the spike, "You ever use one of these things on somebody?"

A slow smile crossed her lips as she debated on whether or not to screw with him or tell the truth. Of course she'd never killed someone with a railroad spike! She'd read about it, but that was it. Sanity wasn't her strong point sometimes, but she wasn't that crazy! She just happened to have plenty of spikes thanks to Luke. Not that Voight needed to know that she wasn't crazy enough to put one of those little monsters through someone's head… Taylor decided it would be more fun to screw with him than to be honest, "I told you, Wolf...by whatever means necessary."

…

"What'n the blue hell are you doin'?!"

Both Cat and Casey jumped as Taylor and Severide returned from their lakeside jog. Cat was currently straddling Casey's lap and had been thoroughly engrossed in making out with him on Taylor's couch before they had been interrupted.

"Oh, hey, Shel." Cat purred, relaxing against Casey. She could feel his heart thundering against her stomach. "You two are back soon."

Furious, Taylor grabbed a fistful of her sister's shirt and yanked her off of Casey and into the floor, "Did I not tell you to stay away from him?!"

Cat laughed as she easily returned to her feet, "Since when have I ever done what you say?" She flipped her hair over her shoulder, "Why do you care so much, anyway? What is he, your dirty little secret?"

The vicious open-handed slap that Taylor delivered had enough force behind it to snap Cat's head violently to one side and cause her to stagger. Taylor didn't let her sister regain her footing; she lowered her shoulder and plowed into the other woman, slamming her into the carpet with enough force to rattle the dishes in the kitchen cabinets. Her vision reddened with a rage that she had never felt before, Taylor's fingers closed around Cat's windpipe and began to squeeze as she drew her fist back for another blow.

Severide scooped her up just in time as Casey grabbed Cat's shoulders and dragged her backward to safety. "Get out." he snarled through gritted teeth as Taylor struggled against the bear hug that he had her wrapped in.

Struggling to sit up, Cat pressed a hand against the fingernail indentations on her throat. Casey had backed fairly far away from her. She started to speak, but Severide cut her off.

"Out!" he roared.

Not needing to be told twice, Cat scrambled to her feet, grabbed her purse, and darted out the door.

Only when the door closed did Severide release Taylor. She was literally shaking with rage.

Slowly, she turned her fiery gaze upon Casey, who instinctively took a step back. Part of her was mad at him for totally ignoring her request to stay away from her sister, and part of her was mad at herself for so foolishly believing that Cat actually wanted to spend time with her. "Matthew…I swear…one more time, and your ass is out."

He nodded quickly, "Copy that."

…

"Shelby Severide?"

Taylor swore as she jumped, thumping her head on Ambulance 61's raised hood. She was completely under the hood, having had to crawl up onto the engine in hopes of discovering what had been making a horrid clanging noise all morning. Capp had given up hours ago. "Yeah?" she called over her shoulder.

"I'm sorry to bother you, Mrs. Severide, but I have a matter of utmost importance to discuss with you."

Taylor twisted around enough to get a good look at the squat little man with a British accent. He had actual spectacles perched on the end of his nose. Wow. What in the world could he want with her? Carefully, she removed herself from beneath the hood. Finding an oil rag, she wiped her hands and got her Southern Belle on, "Forgive my ignorance, sir, but what sort of important matter could you possibly have with me?"

The little man glanced at Severide, who was headed their way from across the bay, "It would be better if we could discuss this in private, ma'am."

That set off alarm bells. Taylor shook her head, "No, I think we should discuss it right here."

"What's going on?" Severide asked, giving the odd man a once-over.

"I am a representative of the Accardos' estate." the man explained, "I need to speak with Mrs. Severide."

Severide crossed his arms over his chest, not liking the fact that this man was tied to the Accardos. He'd had more than enough of that family. "Well, whatever it is, you can discuss it in front of me."

He frowned, "And you are…?"

"Mr. Severide."

"I see." He took a breath, "Very well, then. Shortly before their untimely deaths, the Accardos made a change to their will regarding the possibility of an…accident…happening." Pausing briefly for dramatic effect, he continued, "In that change, they named the both of you as legal guardians of their daughter, Macy."

…

Author's Note: Apologies for the ridiculous amount of time between chapters! I have made the switch from a PC to a Mac, and, well, let's just say it's been an experience. The last time I had an Apple computer, the thing itself was massive compared to today's computers, the screen was black, the text was green, there were maybe two games on it, printer paper had perforation lines instead of individual sheets, cell phones were bigger than bricks, and the Internet was still in its testing stages. So, yeah, it's been a minute since I last owned an Apple computer.

I'll probably be wrapping this one up in the next chapter or two. I've got a couple of stories started that I hope to post soon. Provided I can get them off of my phone and into a Word document…

Anyway, thanks to Ghostwriter, HermioneandMarcus, TheIrishShipperholic, When I Make It Shine, Sarrabr4, and RBCFCPD7410 for the reviews! Thanks to Paul'sImprint1293, Asher Knight, kezryan2, and Alexstarlight18 for the favorites/follows! And, as always, thanks to my readers!