A tower of Legos in one corner.
An opened suitcase in another corner.
Her two boys fast asleep in their beds.
Gabby smiled, taking in the first sights that she saw upon waking up. She slowly rolled over in bed to face Matt.
"Morning, beautiful," Matt said, groggy and only half awake. He smiled, slowly opened his eyes, and took in the sights around the little apartment.
"Morning babe," Gabby replied. She leaned towards Matt and kissed him softly. "How are we already awake? We were up until almost midnight talking."
They exchanged smiles and flashed back to the night before.
It had been an emotional and exciting night, filled with the happiest kind of tears. From the moment Gabby opened the front door of the apartment to see Matt on the other side, their family felt complete and everything just felt right. They had stood in the doorway for a few moments, happy tears rolling down their cheeks. No words were exchanged, and they didn't need to be. They both just knew.
Louie hopped up from the couch and carried his monkey to where Matt and Gabby stood and interrupted them. He pulled on Gabby's pant leg and looked up at her with his big, brown eyes.
"Fire?" he asked, pointing to Matt.
Gabby leaned down to Louie's level, and Matt followed her lead.
"Do you remember Matt from the fire?" Gabby asked Louie.
Louie nodded his head in response.
"Stay? He stay?" Louie asked.
"Well, what do you think, bud? Is it okay with you if Matt stays?" Gabby asked Louie.
He nodded his head again.
"Stay, peas?" he asked Matt.
A lone tear rolled down Gabby's cheek in reaction to Louie's words. She smiled at Louie, and then looked at Matt, who was flashing one of his trademark grins and had tears rolling down his cheeks, as well.
"I'm not going anywhere, Lou," Matt said amidst tears.
Gabby pulled Louie into her lap and looked towards Matt, her eyes and heart full of love and appreciation. Matt had a smile bigger than she had ever seen on him. He leaned towards her and kissed her, softly, slowly, meaningfully. When he finally pulled away, his heart swelled as he noticed Louie snuggled into Gabby's chest, his eyes slowly closing. Gabby looked down at Louie, falling asleep in her arms.
"Let's get the little guy to bed," she said to Matt, leaning in for another kiss.
He pulled away from Gabby and picked up Louie's monkey, which had fallen from his little hand and onto the floor.
"I'll get the monkey," Matt said.
They both stood up and walked towards Louie's bed on the other side of the small apartment. Gabby gently laid Louie on his bed and tucked the covers up around his tiny body. Matt handed her the monkey, and then stepped back to watch the scene unfold. The love of his life tucking in the little boy that she had fallen for the moment she laid eyes on him. Matt smiled to himself, realizing that he had fallen for Louie the moment he sweetly asked him to "stay, peas?" Gabby sat down on the bed beside Louie and looked back up at Matt, smiling
"Goodnight, Louie. Welcome home," Gabby said, gently stroking his soft, brown hair. She leaned down, kissed his head, then stood up and walked over to Matt.
"Hopefully he sleeps through the night. New house, new bed, new people taking care of him. It's a lot for a little one," she said.
"Well, lucky for him, he has an amazing mom to help him with his adjustment," he said, pulling her towards him.
Gabby smiled back at him.
"Thanks. Look, Matt, I wanted you to show me that this," she motioned towards Louie and back to herself "is what you wanted. I mean, of course I wanted you here, but only if you wanted to be here, too…"
Matt interrupted her. "Like I told Louie, I'm not going anywhere. I do want this. All of this. You and Louie and, well, maybe not the apartment above Hermann's garage," he said with a laugh.
"Think Severide will trade us his bedroom at the apartment for this place?" Gabby asked.
Matt smiled and nodded, thoughtfully.
"That's not a bad idea," he paused before continuing. "Look, Gabs, I'm sorry that it took me so long to get here. To this apartment, standing next to you. I'm sorry that we couldn't get on the same page. But at the end of the day, I don't want our family to kickoff while I'm still standing on the sidelines."
Gabby couldn't control her tears as they spilled down her cheeks once again.
"I can do this without you," she said. "But I never wanted to."
Her tears were full on sobs now, as she leaned into Matt and held onto him tightly. He hugged her back, holding her in his arms, kissing the top of her head lovingly.
Eventually, Gabby pulled away, and Matt kissed her lips softly.
"I'm going to run out to my truck to grab my stuff. I'll try not to wake the entire Hermann family while I'm at it," Matt said.
Gabby nodded.
"I'll brew a pot of coffee. I have a feeling we'll be up for awhile," she said.
Hours later, they were seated on the couch, empty coffee mugs in their hands. They had been sitting there for hours, talking, laughing, crying, kissing. Matt's suitcase sat opened in one corner of the apartment. He had grabbed shorts and a t-shirt to wear to bed and set out his blue work pants and gray polo for their shift the next day.
While plotting their scheme to get Hermann to accept Severide as his new tenant, both Matt and Gabby yawned in sync. Matt looked down at his watch and was surprised to see that it was minutes away from midnight.
"Oh, man. We better get to bed. Our alarms will be going off in a few hours," he said.
"Stay, peas?" Gabby asked with a smile.
Now wide-awake and lying in bed next to his girl, Matt leaned over her towards Louie's bed.
"Looks like the little man's still asleep. Want me to get started with breakfast?" Matt asked.
"That would be amazing," Gabby responded. "I should probably get him up. I want to get out of here early so that I can make sure he's well adjusted with Cindy before we leave."
Matt hopped out of bed, walking towards the kitchen. He looked back at Gabby, who was now seated upright in the bed.
"I have a feeling that Cindy isn't a permanent solution," Matt said.
Gabby shook her head. "Nope, 'nanny search' is on the to-do list."
Matt nodded, and then busied himself making pancakes, thankful that the tiny kitchen contained all of the necessary ingredients, including chocolate chips. Meanwhile, Gabby woke Louie up, changed him out of his pajamas and into clean clothes, and settled him into his booster seat at the small table.
"Matt!" Louie said excitedly, pointing to Matt.
"Morning, Lou Man! Pancakes?" he asked, holding up the plate of warm, fresh pancakes.
Louie's eyes widened and he nodded his head up and down.
Buzz, buzz. Matt's phone buzzed across the bed.
"Text from Severide. Do you want me to read it to you?" Gabby asked.
"Sure. You know the passcode," Matt responded.
Gabby did know the passcode. 5181. "So original," she thought.
She typed in the passcode and read the text from Severide.
"He says...'Will be late for shift. Cover for me?'" Gabby read, confused. "Late night with Kidd, I guess."
"Kidd? Wait, are they…?" Matt asked.
"Let's just say I'm not the only one at 51 sharing a bed with a lieutenant," Gabby explained.
"Dude needs to find a hobby," Matt said, as he cut Louie's pancakes into tiny pieces and covered them with syrup.
Gabby laughed. She quickly texted "Sure thing" to Severide then noticed the time on Matt's phone.
"Chop, chop, boys! We need to be out the door in ten minutes!" she called out. She finished throwing her things into her workbag, filled a small bag with toys, clothes and snacks for Louie, and zippered Matt's workbag shut.
"But, first," Matt said, pulling out a chair for Gabby and setting down a plate on the table in front of it. "Pancakes."
Exactly ten minutes later, Matt closed the front door of the apartment behind him and followed Gabby and Louie down the steps. He turned around, looking back at the door. Less than twelve hours ago he had walked through that door to his family and his life had changed forever. For the better. Now, he closed the door and followed behind his family.
He smiled, thinking, "It's our family's time now."