But let’s start with the happy news. When the new season opened, Violet was keeping her distance from Hawkins, not realizing that the man had put his career on the line for her by telling his boss about their relationship, but also how they were being blackmailed by Emma (Caitlin Carver). Emma, of course, blew up any hope she had of staying at Firehouse 51 and her career as a paramedic at the end of the season when she deserted during an emergency call, so Hawkins hadn’t had to come clean, but once he did, there was no going back. For his part, Hawkins, too, hadn’t reached out to Violet, so it looked as if the two of them would never get back together, especially since he had been transferred to another division as a result of his confession, and they wouldn’t necessarily run into each other. Photo by: Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC Step in Blake Gallo (Alberto Rosende), who despite the fact that he still has feelings for Violet, decided to do the right thing and went to Hawkins to clear things up. “One of the things I really appreciate about Gallo is he’s a really good friend,” Rosende said in a junket promoting the premiere of Chicago Fire. “Sometimes being a friend means being selfless regardless of what he’s interested in. He knows that there’s this thing happening between them that if he doesn’t set the right path for it, it could come back, so it needs to be done.” But it really shows the growth that Gallo has made since joining Firehouse 51 when he and Violet had a volatile, competitive relationship. Since that time, however, he promised her that he would always be there to support her, and he has done just that. Is he still interested? Sure, but as Rosende said, “He’s a little more mature now and gets that that’s not his place and he’s more than happy to just be friends. We’ll see where that takes him. Does that make him look outside of the firehouse? Does that make him decide not to even open himself up? That doesn’t seem very Gallo, but we’ll see.” It also has to be hard for Gallo to see Violet and Hawkins’ displays of affection at Molly’s but for Violet, she is so thrilled that she doesn’t have to hide her relationship that she doesn’t give a second thought to the affect it might have on anyone. “What we know about Violet is she’s not shy,” Greensmith says. “She’s not going to shy away from something. What put her in this position in the first place was falling in love with her freakin’ boss, so I think there’s something really exciting for her in being able to finally appreciate something that’s genuine and beautiful between Hopkins and her. Also, I think that being the daring kind of woman that she is, she’s not really afraid at this point to share it.” But it was more than Gallo that had a gut reaction to Violet’s open PDA. It hit Brett hard, too, so much so that seeing her co-worker so happy and in love made her realize that her long distance relationship with Casey just wasn’t enough and that the timing wasn’t right for them. The breakup had to happen eventually as a result of Spencer’s exit from the series, and the Violet-Hawkins relationship was as good a catalyst as any the writers could come up with. “Violet doesn’t have a full understanding until Brett comes forward obviously,” Greensmith added. “I think that changes the relationship between Violet and Brett, too, where they’re kind of accountable for each other in a way that they haven’t been before. But Brett, for the first time in her time on the show, is really holding her own and holding confidence in being on her own, so I think that’s actually an important pillar for Violet to lean onto and that’s going to be a shift, but hopefully we’ll get to see more and more as the season goes on.” Photo by: Adrian S. Burrows Sr./NBC Chicago Fire airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. ET/PT on NBC. Next, Chicago Is Blazing! Here’s What’s Happening on Chicago Fire Season 11
