Casey sipped his beer and watched the TV mindlessly late on a Saturday night. Severide was out with some of his squad buddies and had invited Matt, who declined because he was not in the mood. Since the whole blowup with Pritchard at the house Casey had tried to keep a low profile since everyone know about his fling with Beth. The whole fling had seemed to be a good idea at the time, Matt had just wanted to not think for a few hours. But as it turned out he had paid through the nose for his lack of control over a fling that had spiraled out of control. In the 3 weeks following Gabby finding out she had hardly looked his direction unless it was work related. Matt had tried to approach Gabby a few time but had gotten the cold shoulder each time he approached her. Before Beth, Gabby had started opening up to Matt again but since finding out he had been addressed Lieutenant. The truth was it hurt him to know that he was the cause of the pain in her eyes.
He let out a deep sigh and thought as he walked to the liquor cabinet to get himself a glass of whiskey, "I need something stronger than beer." Matt took a swig of the brown liquid and felt it burn all the way down then proceeded to pour himself another. He hated this apartment because the only good memories were the ones he shared with Gabby. The first night in the apartment had been celebrated with a sleeping bag, champagne, candles and Thai food. He remembered Gabby sitting crossed legged in one of his old t-shirts as they ate and drank. After dinner they had played soft salsa music and made love until the wee hours of the morning talking about their future. God, he missed her so much. He didn't know how it was possible to miss her so much when he saw her every time they were on shift Tonight there wasn't enough whiskey in Chicago to drown Gabby from his memory. After the blow up at 51 when Pritchard tried to steam roll Casey for the blame of a tactical error Matt had been too busy trying to preserve his job. Then when the dust settled he heard through the grapevine that Gabby was dating. When he heard Otis and Hermann whisper about the date Matt felt as if he had been punched in the gut. As it turned out Cruz and Brett had talked Gabby into a double date with them. Later Matt heard that the date had been a disaster and inwardly he had been happy.
Earlier in the day, Matt had stopped by Molly's hoping to try to talk to Gabby. He had arrived in jeans and a sweater armed with all of the words that he wanted to say to her. Matt had spent 45 minutes passing the time waiting for Gabby in small talk with Otis and Hermann who were both bartending. A woman had sat beside him to try and talk to him and he had politely tried to brush her off. As the woman continued to chat in walked Brett and Gabby dressed to kill. Gabby was wearing tight leggings and a royal blue sweater that landed just above her hips and showed off her curves. The sweater was cut widely at the top and showed off Gabby's caramel skin. Her hair cascaded down over her shoulders and her lips were colored with dark red lipstick. She also wore impossibly high heeled boots that accentuated the tight leggings as she walked. Casey noticed That most of the guys in the bar stopped to check out Gabby and Silvey as they sat at the opposite end of the bar. Cruz followed them in and was greeted by Otis. Matt's heart sank as when he overheard that the girls were planning on going out to a club to dance. He knew what guys were like at clubs and knew that they would be drawn to Gabby like bees were to honey.
So here he sat on a weekend trying to get the memory of Gabby out of his head when he heard a knock on the door. He glanced at the clock that read 11:45 am and figured that maybe Severide forgot his keys. He sat down his glass of whiskey and padded to the door and looked out the keyhole and was stunned to see Gabby standing on the other side of the door. Just as he was about to open it he saw Gabby turn to walk away as she talked to herself. Matt fumbled to open the door since he was nervous and curious as to why she was here. As Matt opened the door Gabby had already taken 3 steps back toward the exit to the building. The words stuck in his throat as he watched her turn to the sound of the door opening, "Hey Dawson, I mean Gabby."
Gabby opened her mouth and said as she bit her bottom lip from being nervous, "Hey, can I come in for a minute?"
Matt stepped back and said, "Sure come on in. Can I take your coat?"
Gabby nodded her head as she shrugged her coat off of her shoulders, "Yeah thanks."
Matt stepped closer to her and took her coat. He saw the caramel skin of her neck and had the urge to nibble there to make her shiver but instead cleared his throat as he took her coat. 'Um, can I get you something to drink?"
"Yeah I could use a drink what are you having?" Gabby eyed the glass of liquor that sat on the coffee table she and Matt had picked out together.
"Makers mark on ice is what I am having. Sure you want that?" Matt looked at her and raised his eyebrows a little.
"Yeah and make it a double." Gabby smirked a little from nervousness but more because alcohol from earlier had lowered her inhibitions.
Matt breathed in a deep breath as he watched Gabby sit down then went to make her a drink. He handed her the glass and Gabby took a drink before turning to look at Matt.
"We need to talk." Gabby looked at him with her eyes that looked close to tears.
Matt nodded in agreement, "Yeah, I have wanted to talk to you a hundred times….." then his voiced faded out as he was not quite sure what to say.
"Yeah I wasn't ready to talk until tonight." Gabby looked down at the ground instead of directly at Matt. This talk had seemed like a good idea in the cab on the ride over here. The cab had dropped Silvey off first at Cruz's apartment so that she could spend the night then on a whim Gabby gave the cab driver this address.
Matt rubbed one hand over his face and then moved to sit right next to Gabby on the couch. He knew that he was pushing things but the smell of her perfume, her closeness and the amount of alcohol he had enticed him to sit closer to her. This is the closest they had been since Matt fixed Silveys sink before Gabby found out about his fling with Beth.
Gabby's eyebrows furrowed as she turned to look into Matt's blue green eyes and a single tear escaped and ran down her right cheek. Matt instinctively took his thumb and brushed the tear away as he mentally kicked himself for being the one who caused that tear to begin with. Then Matt cleared his throat and said, "I'm sorry for making things harder for you lately. I was stupid to sleep with Beth and I would take it back if I could."
Gabby nodded and said as she held her breath at Matt's closeness, "We've both done plenty of stupid things lately. Everything used to be so easy with us. I just don't know how to get back to that place."
Matt took Gabby's brown hand into his pale one as he looked directly into her eyes, "I am sorry for Beth and for shutting you out in the first place. Can you forgive me for being so stupid? "
"Matt I can forgive you anything I am not mad anymore but I'm just not sure where we go from here. " Gabby looked around the apartment trying to remember how everything went so very wrong.
There was an intake of breath as Matt leaned into kiss Gabby. At first she hesitated but it did not take long for her to return his kiss. Matt's tongue grazed her bottom lip and she granted him access as he leaned into deepen the kiss. Before long his hands were tangled in her hair and their time apart seemed to disappear. For a few minutes it seemed like neither would stop but then Gabby pulled back breaking their kiss and embrace. She stood up and said as she headed for the door, "This was a mistake. I mean we are still working together. I am sorry but I have to go."
Matt let out a long breath and said in a ragged voice, "Gabby please don't go. I mean I want this to work."
She stopped as her hand grasped the door handle, "This is all my fault I should have never left you. I should have fought for what we had instead of walking out this door."
Matt closed the distance between them and drew Gabby into his arms as she clung to him like he was her lifeline. He drew he back to the couch and leaned back as he held her close to him and then slowly began to kiss her again. This time the kisses were just as passionate but more reserved. The truth was they had a long way to get back to where they should be.
After a while Matt spoke up again into Gabby's hair as her head rested against his shoulder, "Can we start out again?"
"I would like that but we are still working and living together? " part of Gabby was scared to try again since she did not want to hurt again.
"Why don't you stay at Brett's for a while? I mean we could start to date." Matt suggested not really sure of Gabby's reaction.
Gabby chuckled and then smirked as he looked up at him, "So I am going to date someone who has already seen me naked?"
Matt loved the sound of Gabby's laughter and took that as a good sign, "Well I guess when you put it like that it sounds funny but yeah that is exactly what I meant."
Gabby said with a smirk as she glanced up at Matt," So just kissing no sleeping over right?"
"I wouldn't go that far. I just meant for right now let's just date without the pressure of living together until we figure out work. The truth is Gabby I love you and I never stopped. I just didn't want to get in the way of your career. I kick myself for not being able to do both." Matt said everything that he had wanted to say a thousand times since they had been apart.
Gabby sat up and kissed Matt as she straddled his lap the breathlessly whispered, "I love you too. Matt. I want us to work too. And I should never have left but I was scared of us getting in the way of work. I meant what I said a long time ago we are everything. Sorry it took me until now to realize it." As they continued their make out session they did not notice that Kelly had opened the door until they heard someone clear their throat.
"Um sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Kelly said trying to stifle a grin as he watched Matt and Gabby untangle themselves from each other.
Matt looked up and grinned at his friend but kept his arm around Gabby who was blushing by now. "Hey Kelly"
Kelly didn't say anything else as he went to his room except, "Night."
Matt looked down at Gabby and asked the question, "Do you want to spend the night? I mean I am ok either way."
Gabby looked at him with a mischievious grin and said wickedly, "We have just started dating do you think that is appropriate?" Matt brought his lips down on hers as he carried her to their bedroom. The smart thing would have been to wait a while until the dust settled. But alcohol and their long separation took over and they made love into the wee hours of the next morning. As Kelly had said to Matt once with love you roll the dice and either it luck on your side or it ain't." Matt smiled to himself as he heard Gabby's breath steady next to him as she fell off to sleep in his arms. Tonight he considered himself very lucky to have the woman he loved back in his arms.