Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.
Ok so I had this idea in my head all day about a Dawsey family one-shot since it's easter and easter is fun with kids. It will be a Matt POV throughout and I'm not really sure how old Eva and Diego are in the original CF/CPD universe so I just made a creative decision for that hihi.
I walked into my office at the end of shift and gathered a few things. I looked at the few picture frames that were sitting on my desk and smiled. The first one was of Gabby and I in front of Molly's, it seemed like it was taken forever ago. The second one had two pictures in it and was taken a few years back, Gabby was cradling our first born Thomas on the day he was born on one and the second was when Charlotte was born. The last picture was taken recently at the annual firefighter bbq and it was the four of us. Thomas was five now and Charlotte three and today was Easter. Antonio and Laura were coming with both kids as well as Kelly and Leslie for Easter brunch. I quickly left the house and saw Kelly on the way out.
"See you at lunch."
"Yeah, later." I hopped in my truck and drove towards home. Shortly after finding out Gabby was expecting, we looked for a house that we could grow into as a family. I walked in and put my duffle bag on the floor before I heard both kids running my way.
"Daddy, look what the Easter bunny got me." Thomas was grinning from ear to ear. He had inherited Gabby's features, darker skin and black hair.
"That's pretty cool bud." I smiled before putting him down. Gabby and I had made them a basket with chocolate and toys before I left for my last shift.
"Daddy." Charlotte squealed as I lifted her up easily and peered into a reflexion of myself. She had sandy blonde hair and blue eyes but her skin was a slightly darker tone than mine without being as dark as Gabby. She had her small basket in her hands and bunny ears atop of her head. I walked towards the kitchen where Gabby was busying herself with getting the brunch ready.
"Hey baby, how was shift?" She kissed me while Charlotte was still in my arms.
"It was ok but heavy with calls. Have these two been behaving?"
"Yes dad." Thomas was bouncing around now, the excitement about Easter evident.
"They helped me. Why don't you go grab a shower and a couple hours of sleep before everyone gets here?"
"Nah I'm good, do you need some help?" I offered.
She took Charlotte from my arms before putting her back down so she could go back to playing with her stuff. "I'm all covered." She wrapped her arms around my neck and I placed my hands on her hips. "Go take a shower and catch a few hours of sleep baby, I want you refreshed when all hell breaks loose later." She chuckled and kissed me. I pulled her body flush to mine and deepened the kiss.
"Only if we can finish this later tonight, I've missed you."
"Absolutely." She smiles seductively as I release her from my grip.
"I'm be back in two hours." She returned to the stove so she could finish in time as I made my way upstairs to get cleaned up first. I walk under the hot water and wash my hair in hopes of removing the smell of smoke out of it and the rest of the soot off my face. I quickly washed up and put on a t-shirt and boxers to go sleep and believe me when I tell you that it did not wait. I crashed as soon as my head hit the pillow. I woke up later to my alarm buzzing and I looked up at the red numbers that read 11:30. I had just enough time to put on jeans and a button down before helping Gabby finish up before everyone arrived. As my feet hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs, I was all but attacked my the little man that came running into me.
"Uncle Matt, look what auntie Gabby got me." He proudly showed me a red firetruck with a three drawn on the side of it. I picked him up and examined the toy. Logan was the spitting image of Kelly except he had Leslie's blonde hair and perky demeanour.
"That's pretty cool. Daddy must me happy."
"Hell yes. My man will not be on truck, right Logan?" Kelly asked as I walked into the kitchen where Shay was helping Gabby finish up.
"Right dad, squad all the way." I put the four year old down and he fist bumped with Kelly as I chuckled.
"You're here early." I shook his hand and went to kiss Shay on the cheek. "Hey Les, glad you could make it."
"We got home early this morning from my parents, couldn't lunch at the Casey's for Easter, especially Gabby's paella."
"It is pretty good." I kissed her on her neck.
"Right here Casey." Shay said in mock disgust throwing me the towel she was holding as I chuckled. "Tell me Antonio and Laura are getting here soon so I don't have to keep witnessing you two being horny." As she finished saying that, the doorbell rang.
"Lucky you, that must be them." I winked at her and went to open the door.
"Uncle Matt." Diego hugged me.
"Wow, when did you grow so tall?" He had grown a few inches since the last time I saw him.
"These things grow like weeds." Antonio chuckled behind him. "Happened overnight it seems."
"Gabby's in the kitchen." Diego was twelve now and growing into quite the young man.
"Antonio, happy to see you." I hugged him and let him inside before Laura arrived with desert, Eva right behind her.
"Laura, let me take that." I took the pie out of her hands.
"Don't you dare touch that." She warned me.
"Yes m'aam." I chuckled. Laura made the best deserts. Eva came in tow right behind her.
"Hey uncle Matt." I hugged her with the pie still in my hands.
"Hey, wasn't James supposed to come too?" Eva was seventeen and had been with James for the last two years.
"Yeah but he had to cancel because his mom decided to do something for Easter too." She shrugged. I could tell that she was disappointed that he wasn't there with her.
"Sorry to hear that." She placed the box she had in her hands on the floor and removed her jacket. "What's in the box?"
"Eggs." she grinned. "I thought we could do an egg hunt after lunch."
"That sounds like fun." We all made our way to the kitchen where everyone was catching up.
"Ok boys, I need you guys to set the table." Gabby and Leslie placed a stack of dishes on the counter.
"It's the least you can do." Shay laughed. We did not have to be told twice to do it. If truth was told, these three ladies were the pants in every couple.
"Come on boys, let's do this so we can go watch the game." I took a pile, Kelly the other and Antonio the utensils.
"Don't you dare turn on that tv Matthew Casey or our deal is off." She winked and grinned at me.
"Uuugghh you are killing me." Everyone just laughed at me. We were pretty much done when Gabby called everyone to chow. Most kids sat between their parents to ensure they would eat enough. Thomas and Logan had insisted on sitting next to each other and Charlotte was attached to Eva's hips.
"How come when I do it it doesn't taste the same as mom's?" Antonio complained to Gabby.
"That is because I know mom's secret touch and you don't." She poked fun at him.
"Now we know who's the favourite child." Kelly chuckled and everyone else laughed. The kids were strangely well behaved considering the sugar that they had already ingested since morning. The rest of lunch was spent telling embarrassing easter story's from everyone's childhood and just having fun as adults while the kids just did kid stuff. We helped Gabby clear the table before Laura took her apple and pear pie out. Needless to say, the pie had completely disappeared after a few of us had more than one serving.
"Alright kids, you can go play downstairs and play while we pick up the table." Gabby called before getting up. All three kids scrambled off of their chairs and down into the playroom in the basement.
"Do you need help with those?" I asked Eva as she picked up her box full of eggs.
"Diego will help me." Diego got up without arguing and went to help Eva scatter the eggs around the house and the yard. Everyone helped pick up the table and bring everything in the kitchen before Gabby shooed everyone away to the living room while she cleaned up.
"Let me give you a hand babe." I ran a hand on her lower back and grabbed a towel from the rack under the sink.
"Why don't you go sit with everyone else, you've had a long shift." She argued.
"Yes but they can manage. I'm not about to let my wife, who did everything by herself this morning, clean everything up by herself. I'll dry the dishes." I smiled at her.
"How did I ever get so lucky?" She looked lovingly at me.
"Trust me, I'm the lucky one. We have an amazing life and it's all thanks to you. You gave me back your heart and I vowed to never break it again and you gave me two wonderful kids." I took the dishes from her hands and set them in the sink before pulling her to me and kissing her. When air became an issue, I leaned my forehead against hers and gave her another quick kiss.
"Let's finish this before someone comes and get us." She reluctantly pulled away from my embrace and picked up the dishes again. We cleaned them in comfortable silence before I wrapped my arm around her waist and went to rejoin the others that were talking in the living room. Eva and Diego came back from outside where they were hiding the eggs.
"Are you guys all done?"
"Yes uncle Matt, they can come back up." Eva smiled at me. I got up from my spot on the couch and called the kids back up so they can hunt some eggs. The three ran back up as if they weighed a ton each.
"Where are the elephants?" I teased them.
"Ha ha, funny dad." Thomas was spunky like his mom, they made quite the team.
"Let's go outside, Eva has a game for you." All the adults followed the kids in the yard and settled on our patio set.
All three younger kids gave Eva their full attention. "Ok so Diego and I hid some eggs all around the yard so the three of you have to find them all and place them in these." She showed them three baskets that she had made knowing what the kids liked. Thomas and Logan were bouncing like crazy and Charlotte was giggling. "Ok, on your mark, get set, go." All three went running around the yard in search of eggs.
"Thanks for doing this Eva." Gabby told her niece as she sat down on my lap.
"It's nothing. James and I had fun decorating them." She sat on the stairs next to Diego and we all just watched the kids as they found all the eggs. About an hour later, the three returned with their baskets full. Logan went up to Leslie, grinning proudly.
"Look mama, I caught all those eggs."
"That's pretty cool buddy." She sat him in her lap and proceeded to look through the nicely decorated eggs. Eva had also made plastic eggs with chocolate eggs in them so they could have some more chocolate. Easter happened only once a year after all.
"Mom, dad, look at the cool eggs."
"Pretty sweet bud. Did you say thank you to Eva?" Gabby asked him. He swiftly turned around and went to hug his cousin as Charlotte came next.
"Pretty eggs." She laughed. Gabby sat on the patio and examined the eggs with her.
"Wow Char, you caught a lot of eggs." I smiled at her. "Go say thank you to Eva sweetie."
"Thank you Eva." She wrapped are little arms around Eva's neck and Eva just pulled her on her lap.
"You're welcome sweetie." everyone stayed for a few more hours and we had fun playing games with the kids while the girls talked on the patio. Kelly and Leslie were the first ones to leave with a sleepy Logan tucked in Severide's arms.
"Thanks for lunch Gabs." Shay hugged her. "And thanks for the eggs Eva, Logan had fun." She hugged the teenager.
"See you on shift Casey." Kelly gave me a nod and Shay hugged me before they left. Antonio, Laura and the kids left shortly after because they were invited to Laura's parents house for diner. Gabby made her mac and cheese for the kids for diner and we washed them and put them to bed before turning in ourselves. Gabby was already propped up against out headboard, putting hydrating cream while I washed up in our bathroom before joining her in bed.
"Today was fun." I propped myself on my arm and looked at her.
"Yeah, we should do it every year. I like that tradition." She looked down at me and smiled.
"Me too and what Eva did for them was pretty sweet. Thanks for a great day baby." I let her finish putting cream on her hands before I pulled her to me.
"I love getting together with our friends and family." She ran a hand on my chest down to my abs, sending shivers of want all through my body.
"But I love getting together with you even more." I kissed her with so much passion and pulled her even closer to me if that was possible.
"I love you Matt Casey." she whispered once we broke our kiss.
"I love you too Gabriella Casey." I kissed her softly. "Now where were we?" I kissed her neck and we finished what we started when I got home from shift.
Later that night, I held the girl I love in my arms, wondering how lucky I had been that she had forgiven me all those years ago and allowed us to have what we have now. I held her close to me and kissed her forehead before falling asleep.
a/n Ok so I'm pretty happy about this one-shot and i'm glad I decided to put it down on "paper." I hope you liked it and you'll take a few minutes to leave a review