Leslie Shay, Chicago Fire

Leslie Shay (Lauren German) was one of the main protagonists in Seasons 1 and 2. She was a paramedic assigned to Ambulance 61 at Firehouse 51, and was openly gay, often cracking self-deprecating jokes about it.

The character of Clarice was introduced as Shay’s pregnant ex-girlfriend in Season 1. They later reconciled, and Clarice and her newborn son moved back in with Shay, until they were hit by a lawsuit by Clarice’s husband, Daniel, who wanted full custody of their child. Clarice broke up with Shay for a second time at the end of Season 1 and moved back in with her husband. After having experienced being a mother for a short time, Shay decided she wanted a child of her own. She asked her best friend and roommate Kelly Severide to become her sperm donor, and though he agreed, the insemination failed and Shay decided to give up on the idea.

In Season 2, Shay briefly dated a woman named Devon, who was introduced for a short arc which suddenly ended when she robbed Shay and her roommates. Devon came back later in the season to look for Shay, return the stolen items and money, and explain that she needed money to help her father (2×21).

Shay was killed in the Season 3 premiere when a collapsing pipeline fell and hit her in the head. She returned over the course of the season in brief flashback appearances.

Series executive producer Matt Olmstead explained in an interview with EW that they chose Shay to die because her death would cause the most drama for the rest of the characters.

“You invariably get a lot of material from the emotional ramifications. We started to map out what it would look like, who it would involve, and at a certain point we all looked around and said this is the way to go. Some people are going to be pissed off. Hopefully people are emotionally affected by the storyline. Having seen the episode after this, it’s pretty much what we had hoped for in terms of shaking things up and giving other characters story lines to play all because of this one event.”

He continued to explain that the main person affected by her death would be Severide, Shay’s straight, male best friend, in part as a continuation of the “All Lesbians Want Kids” story trope:

EW: How will her death impact the firehouse this season?

“The main one is Severide because they were best friends. They were talking about having a kid together. […] He’s dealing with not only the grief, but he’s imbalanced.[…] It’s just a matter of when it’s going to catch up to him and what’s he going to do when he ultimately has to deal with that.”

Source: Entertainment Weekly

Appearances:

• 47 episodes. Regular S1-2 Guest S3 (flashbacks only)

Female love interests:

• Clarice Carthage (Shiri Appleby, bisexual, recurring, 6 episodes)
• Devon (Vedette Lim, lesbian, recurring, 7 episodes)

Relationship story arc with a woman: Yes

No male love interests

Relationship story arc with a man: No

Male love interest after being identified as a lesbian? No

Filter Relationship Arc:

• Female (Recurring)

Storyline during sweeps? Yes, episode where Clarice was revealed aired in November and the episode they reconcile and share their only kiss aired in Febuary

[1] A relationship story arc is defined as explicit, developed on screen, and lasting more than 3 episodes. It is listed as questionable or subtext if romance is only implied, mentioned instead of shown on screen, part of a dream sequence, or otherwise not explicit for the viewer.
[2] Sweeps episodes air in February, May, July and November, the periods when advertising rates are set. A character is marked as "sweeps" when there is a very limited number of episodes that address their sexuality, all air during sweeps period, and the storyline is otherwise ignore/dropped.