‘9-1-1’: A Complete Timeline of Maddie & Chimney’s Relationship (So Far)
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To say that dispatcher Maddie (Jennifer Love Hewitt) and firefighter/paramedic Chimney’s (Kenneth Choi) journey to the altar was a complicated, long, and at times very traumatic would be an understatement. But 9-1-1 did celebrate the couple’s wedding in Season 7 (though not without some hiccups, of course). And to think, they almost didn’t get together!
“Jennifer Love Hewitt is the one who requested that she get together with Chimney. I think everybody expected it would be Eddie [Ryan Guzman],” Choi tells TV Insider. “And to her credit, she said, ‘This is the more interesting choice, because it’s not the one right on the nose.’ And it’s been such a blessing and a gift because she truly is a magnificent actor. If you follow our relationship, you see there’s so much trauma, there’s so many tears that go with the trauma, and she brings so much emotional vitality to her character, to every day that we’re in the trenches together.”
Off-screen, they’re “tight friends,” he continues. “I’m super tight with her husband [Brian Hallisay, who played Maddie’s abusive ex-husband], with her three children. I go over there for all the birthdays. So it’s been such a gift onscreen as well as off. She’s become one of my closest friends. When we were filming parts of the wedding, there was one afternoon where it just happened to be her and I in these scenes and we were cracking up constantly. We just crack each other up all the time, and we have such a wonderful working relationship. So thinking back to that first moment where it was sort of love at first sight, it just reminds me of what a wonderful, rich storyline this has become. And the fans seem to really enjoy it.”
To relive all the moments along the way, including the wedding, including that first moment, scroll down to check out a timeline of Maddie and Chimney’s relationship so far.
9-1-1, Thursdays, 8/7c, ABC
The Meet Cute (Season 2 Episode 6 “Dosed”)
Buck (Oliver Stark) enlists Chimney and Eddie to help his sister, Maddie, move in to her new place. Maddie and Chimney immediately spark while he shows her the security app, and she then tells Buck, “he is so cute.”
Are Maddie & Chimney Dating? (Season 2 Episode 8 “Buck, Actually”)
Buck is surprised when he meets Chimney for drinks, Maddie joins them, and he finds out just how often they hang out. (And who can forget the karaoke?) Chimney makes Maddie hot mustard, they have Buff-Fridays, and Buck realizes they’re dating. They deny it at first, but later, they do acknowledge the possibility. Maddie tells Chimney her life is a mess and he says he doesn’t want her to feel pressured. “I might take you up on that, someday,” she says. “My calendar’s wide open,” he assures her.
Maddie & Chimney’s First Date Interrupted (Season 2 Episode 11 “New Beginnings”)
Maddie decides to file divorce papers, knowing it’s a risk that her abusive ex-husband, Doug, could find her—she doesn’t know he already did—and asks Chimney out. “Just name the date and time,” he says. She kisses his cheek (and the rest of the 118 cheers). But when Chimney goes to pick up Maddie for their date, Doug stabs him and attacks her.
Maddie & Chimney’s First Kiss (Season 2 Episode 13 “Fight or Flight”)
After Maddie survives a harrowing ordeal with her abusive ex-husband, which does end in his death, she and Chimney reunite in the hospital where he’s recovering after being stabbed. “We’re okay,” she says before kissing him.
Over Before It Began? (Season 2 Episode 14 “Broken”)
While discussing their trauma because of Doug, Maddie and Chimney, both in tears, realize that whatever they were going to have, “we’re never getting it back.” He stops her on her way out, arguing it’s not goodbye and they just need a minute, but her kiss certainly seems like a farewell.
Maddie & Chimney Begin Again (Season 2 Episode 18 “This Life We Choose”)
While Maddie thinks Chimney was right that things won’t be the same, “maybe we could have something else,” she suggests … in the same place she was standing when she first asked him out, he notes. “I’m not sure I’d ever been so happy—until right now,” he says, kissing her.
First “I Love You” (Season 3 Episode 13 “Pinned”)
It wouldn’t be a major milestone for Maddie and Chimney without a little drama. After his brother Albert (John Harlan Kim) questions the passion in their relationship (10 months and 3 weeks in) and Eddie reminds him that tomorrow’s not promised to anyone (as well as a very bloody call), Chimney decides to ask Maddie out on a proper date and tell her he loves her. She feels the same way about him—as well as “happy, safe” when she’s with him—but she’s not sure she can say those words after she used them as a shield with Doug. But she then uses them as a code word to alert Chimney that something’s very wrong when the call center is taken hostage.
Maddie’s Pregnant (Season 3 Episode 18 “What’s Next?”)
It’s at May’s (Corinne Massiah) graduation party, when Maddie can’t stand the smell of something she loves, that she realizes she’s pregnant, and she and Chimney leave to confirm—and both tests she takes do!
Chimney & Maddie’s Daughter Is Born (Season 4 Episode 9 “Blindsided”)
Chimney’s in the middle of responding to a pile-up on the freeway when Maddie goes into labor. He makes it to the hospital in time (thanks to Angela Bassett‘s Athena) to be there for the birth of their daughter, Jee-Yun, named after Chimney’s mother. (Albert’s also in a car accident at the same time, but the good news is he’s going to be fine. See, drama and trauma.)
Maddie Leaves (Season 5 Episode 3 “Desperate Measures”)
Maddie’s postpartum struggles lead to her leaving Chimney and Jee-Yun—and a video message offering an explanation: “I’m sure that you are confused, hurt, and probably really scared. I don’t know what to say. You don’t need to go to the police or come look gin for me. I’m not in any danger, and no one is making me do this. But Jee is not safe with me—not now and maybe… I know that you’re going to take really good care of her. And she’s better off without me. I love you. I love both of you. And I’m really sorry.”
Maddie & Chimney All Too Brief Reunion (Season 5 Episodes 12 “Boston” and 13 “Fear-o-phobia”)
Chimney’s road trip to find Maddie ends with the two reunited, in the middle of an emergency. When they get the chance to sit down and talk, Maddie admits that while what happened with Jee in the bath was an accident, “trying to kill myself wasn’t,” when she walked into the ocean. “I got out of the ocean for you, for both of you,” she continues, “but I had to stay here to learn to stop running.” They agree to be honest about how they feel and what they want… and break up on their way back to Los Angeles. “All those other times we were apart, it always felt like it was outside forces—ex-husbands, pandemics. This time it feels like the call’s coming from inside the house,” Chimney explains to Hen (Aisha Hinds). “We grew apart, or we grew while we were apart,” Maddie tells Buck.
One Night Stand Turns Into a Real Reunion (Season 6 Episode 1 “Let the Games Begin”)
When there’s a problem in Maddie’s apartment, she and Jee stay with Chimney … which leads to a one night stand after she says she finds formulaic rom-coms annoying and “would rather see two people overcome real problems and still get their happy ending.” Though he sneaks out the morning after, that just delays their conversation. But “I’m not leaving this family,” Maddie assures him. “That’s what you called us, and that’s what I want, the three of us together.” He does, too. “This is a promise: I’m not going anywhere. I’m done running,” she promises.
Engaged! (Season 6 Episode 17 “Love Is in the Air”)
With these two, the road to their engagement can’t be anything less than dramatic. Chimney spirals quite a bit, and Maddie finds the ring he lost, gets it stuck on her finger … and leaves it there for him to see. Then she’s the one to propose! “Howard Han, from the moment that we met, I knew that I had found someone who would always be there for me. I knew it, I just couldn’t believe it. And there are so many people who would never survive what I’ve been through because they’re alone, but I had you. You’re my lifeline, and it is really funny you losing this ring and me finding it. It turned out to be a total blessing because it just reminded us why we’re so perfect together, and it brought us right back to where we’re supposed to be,” she says before having Jee join them. “Howard Han, will you marry us?” He, of course, says yes!
Madney's Appropriately-Located Wedding (Season 7 Episode 6 “There Goes the Groom”)
When the groom is MIA on his wedding day, it’s all hands on deck to track him down. The good news: He makes it to the hospital—viral encephalitis led to him forgetting the past 20 years—in time to be treated. And once reunited, Chimney doesn’t want to wait any longer to be married to Maddie and suggests they have their wedding there. As Hewitt tells us, it’s “very them.”
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