Sprucing up Chicago

3. Houses

This story isn't mine ALL credits to Katieverse on ArchiveOfOurOwn.org

Out of the entire show, Sylvie’s absolute favorite part was the touring of potential houses. Most of the time, the Caseys presented three different houses to their clients, one of them ending up being exactly what their clients had wanted and needed.

Of course, now that Sylvie knew a bit more about the show and everything that happened off-camera, she had learned that it wasn’t as easy as it sounded on TV. The process was longer than it seemed, especially when the clients didn’t like any of the houses. Adding the finalization of the purchase and the legal matters to it, Christie had told her that there was always something that could go wrong, resulting in the need to restart the entire process. Apparently, it happened a couple of times before.

Sylvie hoped that wouldn’t happen to her because making decisions was not her thing and making such a big decision not once, but twice sounded stressful.

If anyone asked her, three houses were more than enough to look at anyway. She would have enough trouble to choose between just three. Especially after watching the show for five seasons. Christie Casey was incredibly talented, and Sylvie had seen her turn even the saddest looking houses into beautiful homes. So technically, every house had the potential to be the perfect fit for her if she just trusted Christie enough.

Taking a deep breath, Sylvie closed her eyes for a moment, clearing her head. Today, it was her turn to look at houses. Two weeks had passed since her meeting with the Caseys, and a couple of days ago, Christie had finally called her with the good news. Instead of giving Sylvie the addresses of the houses, Christie had stayed rather secretive about the locations and told her they would pick her up.

It left Sylvie feeling unprepared, but then again, maybe that was Christie’s goal. If Sylvie had known the addresses, she would have not been able to fight the urge to look them up, so maybe it was for the best.

The older woman had also asked her if she wanted to take anyone with her to look at the houses, but Sylvie had declined her offer. They were meeting on a Wednesday morning, so Lexi was in preschool anyway, and for a moment, Sylvie had contemplated asking Pete to come with her, but she decided against it. This was something she wanted and needed to do on her own. Apart from her, Lexi was the only one who had a say in her decision.

Looking down the street in front of Herrmanns' house, Sylvie saw a dark-red Cadillac drive towards her, and seconds later, it stopped in front of her at the curb. Christie waved at her through the window, with Matt sitting in the passenger seat. The man sent her a curt nod with a fleeting smile, while his sister smiled more broadly at her.

Sylvie lifted her hand in greeting before hoisting up her handbag on her shoulder and moving towards the back door of the car. As she opened it, she took one last steadying breath before sliding into the soft leather seat.

“Sylvie, hi. How are you today? Are you excited?” Christie greeted her in a cheery voice while she turned in her seat to look back at her.

“I’m good, thank you,” Sylvie replied as she buckled herself in. “I’m excited to look at the houses you chose, and maybe also a bit nervous. I’m not good with decisions.”

“Don’t worry. We will not make you decide today. You have all the time in the world. It’s why we’re filming several months before the episodes air. You never know what surprise you’ll get during a renovation,” Christie told her, reaching out and patting her knee. “Just soak everything up, and if you have any questions, feel free to just ask.”

“That sounds reasonable,” Sylvie agreed.

“Oh, and don’t mind the cameras. Most of the time, they’ll just follow us around on our tour, and we rarely have to reshoot anything. So, don’t think about positions or lighting or anything. Our crew has been doing this for years. They are pros!” Christie added, before turning back to the front.