A/N : Hello everyone ! Thank you for all the great returns I had on my last one-shot "I'll always come back to you", it really warmed my heart. Thank you very much! For today, a little (or not so little) one-shot related to the next episode, the episode centered on Dawson! I cannot wait to see it. I hope that we will have a worried Casey for his wife, and of course that he will be the one saving Gabby! In the meantime, here is my idea about this episode.
I hope you will like it. Have a good read!
G.
The room was beginning to be lulled by a beautiful autumn light, the low sunlight passing through the long white curtains to caress the skins of Matt and Gabby, entwined in their big bed and under their beige-colored duvet. It was at this precise moment that the alarm began to ring, it was time to prepare for a new shift of twenty-four hours, but only for Matt. Gabby had taken a day off, officially for no particular reason or just to honor an appointment. Matt hated to wake up alone, and to go alone to the firehouse. He loved their little married couple routine that works together. He gently pulled his arms out of Gabby's waist to turn off the wake-up call, but quickly returned to nesting his face in his wife's neck. She tightened her husband's arms around her and let out a little sigh of well-being.
« Good morning, Captain Casey, » she murmured.
« Good morning, my love, » he replied before putting a soft kiss on her bare shoulder. « I don't want to go without you… » he pouted.
« You're obliged to go, baby. The ceremony cannot happen without you, » Gabby said, turning around in his arms to face him. She stroked his cheek gently before putting a kiss on his lips.
« You promised me to come, » he reminded her, looking straight into her eyes.
« You don't think I'm gonna miss this, Captain! » She smiled at him. « The fact of not being on shift simply means that I would be there as your wife like it was the case at the last ceremony, and that suits me perfectly... We can even make a remake of the last one after, just saying… » she teases him, devouring him with her eyes.
« A Captain can not do this at his work place... I have a reputation to hold! » Matt said seriously.
« Your rank of lieutenant never frightened you at this level, if I can remind you! » she laughs.
« Well, choose your dress well, one that can be easily removed, by the way, and we'll see what we can do! » He teased her in turn before looking at the time. « Shit, I really have to go! » He sighed.
« I'm willing to kidnap you, but hey, you have a role to play! » She winked at him before kissing him again and pushing him out of bed. Scarcely had he put his feet on the ground, she wrapped herself in the comforter and settled comfortably in the middle of the bed, only her forehead and hair disheveled being visible. « Don't forget your uniform, Captain! » She reminded him. Matt let out a mocking laugh, then whispered: « How to get rid of your husband in less than a second… » and drop a kiss on Gabby's forehead. He went into the bathroom to get ready, and when he returned to the room to put on his work's uniform, his wife slept peacefully. He escaped without making a noise and left for a shift who will change his life, he was going to be officially named captain.
For fear of being late, Casey arrived at the firehouse in a little strike beneath the gentle mockery of his men: « So Lieutenant, are we lost without Madame? » , « Is it hard to leave his wife, perhaps? ». He gave them a sly smile mixed with a menacing false glance, so they immediately returned to their tasks as he made his way to the locker room.
« I hope Gabby will have the time to prepare everything! » Kidd whispered to his colleagues.
« I cannot wait to see his face! » Otis added, as Severide arrived in his turn, his uniform straight out of the dry cleaning, on the shoulder.
« If you want to see his face, be more discreet Otis! We hear you from the outside! » He told him before patting his shoulder and joining the locker room at his turn. There he found Casey busily storing his things. « So ready for these last hours as a Lieutenant? » He teased.
« You have no idea how I'm going to lead you hard life! » He teased before turning back to his quarters. He glanced at his binders, his paperwork, everything he had accomplished in recent years, and then his eyes landed on the photo that proudly stood on his desk, that of his wife. His greatest pride was that of marrying Gabby, the woman he had loved for many years. Being able to call her « his wife » was his greatest achievement. He was proud to become a Captain, but even more so to become a Captain with her by his side.
Meanwhile, Gabby took advantage of her day off to catch a few hours of sleep and take care of herself. The schedule for the day was busy, she had a lot to do before returning to the firehouse early in the afternoon for the ceremony, but for once she could, she wanted to take the time to take the time. She dragged herself to bed, made a royal breakfast and went to have a hot bath filled with foam.
She put on a comfortable outfit to go shopping secretly for the surprise they had decided to organize for Matt to celebrate his promotion. She grabbed her purse and smiled, walked to her car and went to the mall to get everything she had ordered in secret: champagne, petits fours, some decorations and a special gift for the man of her life.
Half an hour later she arrived at the mall, parked and walked to the elevators to get to the shops, but could not get far before the walls began to tremble around her and a deafening noise accompanied by dust and smoke plunges it into the dark.
« Lieutenant, not too stressed? » Hermann asked as the entire firehouse finished getting ready for the ceremony. But Matt was elsewhere and did not reply. Everyone looked at each other and questioned each other with discreet looks, without saying a word, wondering what was wrong.
« Hey, man, are you okay? » Severide asked in his turn, slamming his fingers before the eyes of his best friend.
« Uh, yeah, it's just … » Matt replied vaguely, staring at his phone.
« What? What is going on? »
« It's Gabby... She still has not arrived, she doesn't respond to any of my texts, or my calls, I'm starting to worry, » Casey explained, looking sad but above all worried.
« Uh, Lieutenant, I'm sure she's okay, she'll be here! » Hermann tried to reassure him without selling the wick. He begged his colleagues to do the same.
« Yes, don't worry, she'll be here! » Cruz added.
« She's going to make a big entrance as only Gabby Dawson knows how to do it! » Otis laughed.
« And imagine the dress already… » Severide whispered in his ear before giving him a reassuring pat on the back.
At 2 pm, the truck was out and dressed in the American flag. The firemen were dressed in their finest uniform, and were in a row. Boden proudly faced all his men, Casey was beside him, his eyes fleeing, his thoughts distant. He looked for a single ounce of his wife, in vain. Severide nodded to make him understand that everything was fine. Casey gave him a grateful smile and refocused on the ceremony.
Boden then spoke: « We meet here today to celebrate one of ours, Matthew Casey. After a magnificent career as a Lieutenant in the Chicago Fire Department, his passion for his profession, his seriousness, his responsibility, his sense of teamwork and his ability to lead are worthy of being promoted by the Department to the rank of Captain, ». Boden then turned to face Casey: « Matthew Casey, it's with honor and pride that we name you from today to the rank of Captain. You will now be responsible for the new badge, » when a scrambled radio frequency noise begins to resound and distract everyone world. Boden and Casey exchanged a glance, not sure if they heard correctly.
« Don't worry, I'll see what is going on, keep going! » Hermann announced before running into the firehouse, but everyone wanted to wait until he returned before continuing.
« 51, can you hear me? » a cracked voice was heard. « Is anyone there? », Hermann, surprised, caught the radio, and answered.
« Here, it's firehouse 51. »
« Can you hear me? «
« Firehouse 51, I hear you. I'm listening. »
« Hermann? It's you? » The voice on the other side of the radio, she asked. « Hermann? Do you hear me? ».
Hermann ran out of the firehouse, under the eyes of his colleagues, shouting words in a strange mess.
« Hermann, what's going on? » Boden asked him.
« A parking lot collapsed in a shopping mall. There are victims, people are stuck, and… » Hermann turned to Casey.
« And what, Hermann? » Boden exchanged glances between the two men.
« Gabby, » Hermann began, but could not finish his sentence before being interrupted by Casey.
« Gabby, what? » Casey asked in a tighter tone than he wanted.
« It was her. She's inside… » Hermann answered, lowering his eyes.
« Let's go! Let's go! All in gear! » Boden gave his orders, tore off the American flag, which floated proudly above the truck 81 and everyone put his equipment over his formal uniform. The beacons turned on, the sirens began to reason, and the whole firehouse blew away in the direction of the collapse that trapped one of their own.
They arrived on the scene ten minutes later. Reinforcements had been called. Casey got out of the truck first, put his helmet on his head and saw the scene in front of his eyes. Concrete pieces had gathered on the road, the stone falls continued, the dust had formed a cloud of smoke.
« What are we doing, Chief? » Casey asked, a little lost.
« We organize research. We must find a way to get inside without risking further collapse of the structure. This could be fatal. Holes must be found, there must be ones. Casey, Severide, there! » Boden directed his troops pointing at a possible hole before turning to the store manager: « Is there any way to get in touch with the inside? »
« We tried several times via the emergency phones positioned at the level of the elevators, but no response. The collapse must have taken place at this level, I don't know. We tried the walkie-talkie of a staff member, but also in vain… » the man replied, obviously shocked.
« Hermann!" Boden called.
« Yes chief? »
« Tries to get into radio contact again with the inside… Try several frequencies, do whatever you have to. We must try to communicate! »
« Copy that, Chief! » Hermann walked over to the truck, as Casey, Severide, and their men began clearing the rubble.
« We need everyone! » Casey shouted.
« Don't worry, man, we will find her! » Severide tried to reassure his friend. This one stared at him, trying to convince himself, once again, that everything was going to end well. But his wife, his life, was stuck under the ground, in the midst of the rubbish, and all he wanted was to find her, to help her and to take her in his arms, to hold her tightly against him.
An hour later, Hermann had managed to establish a brief contact with the interior. He had been able to speak with the soldier and to hear Gabby, which had reassured him. After all, she was like her daughter.
« I don't hear you very well, Hermann… »
« I will be clear and concise. There is an emergency phone at the elevators. If you can reach it, we can get in touch and locate you more easily. Try to reach this phone, press the emergency button. »
« Okay, I'll try my best! »
« I know you'll, kid! »
Inside the confined parking lot, Gabby managed every situation, from the anguish to the hysteria to the most seriously injured. With the help of a few other people, they thought about a way to reach the elevators and access that famous phone.
Outside, the firefighters continued to disentangle themselves in order to clear their way, when the telephone in Boden's pickup began to ring. All looked at each other, Matt rushed to the car.
« Gabby ?! » Matt picked up the phone at full speed, still worried.
« Matt! »
« Gabby, baby, are you okay? » Matt asked her when he heard her panicked voice, but somehow relieved to hear it.
« We start to choke a little… » she began to cough, breathing short after the efforts to break the window separating the car park of the airlock where the lifts were.
« Take deep breaths, baby. Breathe, we're not far away, we just need more indications: what level, what place… » Matt asked her a few questions in order to locate them at best.
« We're at level -2, near the elevators... Uh, we're a dozen. I don't see any way out, Matt. We're suffocating here… » she coughed again. « We don »t have time left, Matt… » she breathed again, her voice trembling. She had been strong since this morning, but her nerves were beginning to drop. « Come and get me, baby, I beg you… »
« Gab... Gabby… Remember, I'll always come back to you, and you'll always come back to me. I'll never give up on you, you need to trust me… »
« I... I do, Matt, I do… »
« I'm going back, I'm coming, I love you, »
« I love you too, » she said before hanging up reluctantly. She went back to the other people trapped inside. « The firehouse for which I work are present on site, many firefighters are clearing the way to reach us... Just a little patience… » she explained to them. They confined themselves in a corner away from the debris to avoid being affected by possible falls of stones. She checked the state of health of the most serious of the wounded that degraded as the minutes passed. Tension was increasingly palpable among the survivors, but she no longer had the strength to do the police. She would wait, wait patiently for her husband to come and fetch her, come and save her. With her breath cut off, she began to feel feverish, to feel herself being nauseous. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing.
After hours of effort, a path began to take shape inward.
« We need a little more space to be able to sneak in! » Casey ordered.
« It's good, we have a passage! » Severide shouted and turned to the chief.
« Let's go! » Chief Boden approved of his lieutenants. « Severide, you're going with Casey! » The Lieutenant shook his head, and they both set out and disappeared into the rubble.
« Gabby? » Matt shouted with all his might. « Gabby? Do you hear me?" But no answer. The anxiety grew more and more, he was tense, his stomach was tied, thousands of questions invaded his mind.
« They must not be very far away. » Severide again tried to reassure him. He knew how much he loved Gabby, he did too, she was like a sister to him, but he had to be strong for both of them at that very moment, he had to believe it when he felt the hope decreasing in his best friend's head. « Dawson? »
« Gabby? GABBY? » Matt shouted again, coming closer and closer. On the other side of the room, Gabby had fallen asleep, tired, but the sound and the echoes of voices pulled her out of her stupor. She resumed her spirits, and cried at her turn: « Here! Right here! »
« Gabby! » Matt shouted as he saw his silhouette. « Gabby! Gabby! We are here! »
« Matt! » Gabby yelled with all her might, between emotion and relief. She turned to her trapped fellows: « They're here, we're saved! »
Severide and Casey approached, and came to the spot. Matt rushed to Gabby, he needed to see that she was fine. Gabby held out her arms and he hugged her immediately. « I'm here, I'm here. It's okay. Are you sure you're okay? » Matt repeated in her ear before taking her face in his hands and kissing her. He studied her down to the last detail, he had to make sure she was fine. « Come on, let's get out of here! » Matt said as he straightened up and helped his wife get up in her turn.
« Oh my god, you were in the middle of the ceremony? » Gabby noticed with horror.
« We don't care about that, go up, we have to go! You must be examined! » Matt retorted.
« Matt, no, there's more urgency to get out, I'm fine… »
« But… »
« No, no but, we have to evacuate people in order of priority, Matt. »
« But you're my priority Gabby, my number one priority… »
« Baby, you know very well what I mean... If we all get together, I'll get out of here as soon as possible, okay? » She said, caressing his cheek.
« Fine, by whom do we start ? »
« This man with a big opening at the level of the skull, we tried to compress with the means of the edge but I think he is in a critical state. The latter has a bloody hand. Beside him, the young man has panic attacks… » Gabby explained the situation. More firefighters had arrived inside with stretchers and a little equipment, they quickly organized themselves to stay inside as little as possible, the structure threatening to collapse more and more every second that passed.
Casey and Severide made several round trips until only Gabby was left inside. She refused to leave until everyone had been evacuated. Matt turned back once inside, debris was still falling. « Come on, baby, we have to make it fast before it collapses... As much as I love you, I prefer to be stuck with you outside, » he tried to relax the atmosphere and to look zen. He took her by the hand, hugged her quickly, before giving her a pair of gloves. He then helped her get on the pile of debris, Severide came to meet her from the outside. He protected her with his big arms until the exit, Matt was behind her, and didn't let go of her for a second. When she saw the daylight, Gabby was greatly dazzled, she could not keep her eyes open.
« Come on, Dawson, you're almost there! » Severide encouraged her.
« Come on, honey! » Matt patted her lower back.
She shook her head, trying to take a deep breath to give herself a last ounce of courage, rubbed her eyes with her hands full of blood and dust, which only made the situation worse. She finally emerges, at the end, with her eyes just opened. The fresh air immediately filled her lungs, which made her feel good but triggered a cough. Severide helped her sit on the road, in a secure area and Matt ran towards her. He knelt before her, he reviewed her from the top of her head to the feet, and he was relieved when he saw that apart from a few scratches, everything was fine.
« You came… » she whispered with a broken voice.
« It seems like a déjà vu! » Severide laughed, tapping the back of his two friends simultaneously.
« Of course, I came... Of course! » Matt laughed as he put Gabby in his arms. « I love you so much, I can't live without you, you know… » he whispered in her ear, before moving away and staring straight in her eyes.
« I would not be against a big kiss, » she looked at him tenderly, and he didn't wait to be executed. She felt his lips against hers, and the well-being it gave her was indescribable. She savored the present moment, a kiss that could have been regarded just as another for all the people around her, but which at that moment had a very special meaning.
Matt broke the contact first, and looked at her with eyes full of love. They were interrupted by Boden: « Gabby, glad you're all right. I would still like you to get quickly checked by the paramedics still there. Casey, you can go with her, if you want. »
After a day full of emotions, they all found themselves in the firehouse for the end of the shift.
« Well, what if we finished this ceremony that Mrs. Casey knew how to interrupt brilliantly? » Hermann teased her. She was sitting on Matt's lap, her head resting on his shoulder.
« Always gifted to get noticed this one! I always said it! » Kidd laughed.
« And besides, the surprise is spoiled! » Otis could not hold his tongue, and immediately regretted what he had said when he felt many pairs of eyes staring at him.
« What surprise? » Matt asked. Gabby looked dejected.
« If I was not here today it was because we had organized a surprise party for your promotion, and I was supposed to go and get it all back this morning before the ceremony... And there we are, I have nothing anymore, not even your gift… » emotion rose to her throat.
« Hey, hey, » he said, raising her chin. « My best gift is you, and you are here, alive, in my arms. »
« What a sweet talker! » Severide teased him, again and again.
« You're just jealous of his romantic fiber! » Kidd retorted.
« Come on, enough, time to finish this ceremony and to make Casey an official Captain! » Boden intervened.
« But our uniforms are a bit dirty, Chief! » Cruz remarked.
« We don't care, it's for the symbol! » Hermann answered.
They all went to the locker room, refreshed themselves and made a little beauty before they all gathered in the common room. Gabby did not have her uniform, she could just put on her PIC one. She stood proudly in front of her husband, with stars full of eyes.
« Matthew Casey, it's with true honor that I pin this medal on your official uniform and that I am naming you from that day, Captain. We're all proud of you, I'm proud of you, son, » Boden said before shaking his hand and handing him his new badge. « Congratulations, Captain Casey, » he said before taking him in his arms under the applause and cheers from all the firehouse. He received the congratulations of all his colleagues before heading to his wife, hugging her by the waist and kissing her passionately under the traditional teasing.
« Matt, since Gabby was off for this shift, and given the emotions of the day, I allow you to come back home with her. Hermann will take over for tonight, » he said, smiling.
« Thank you chef! » They said in unison.
Matt and Gabby went back to their apartment together, ordered Chinese food on the way that they ate snuggled together on the sofa, before taking a relaxing bath, a bath full of love , kisses, cuddles. The couple needed to get together after such moments, but not necessarily in the way that everyone thought. They just needed to feel the presence of each other, the love they had for each other, nothing more. They dried themselves up, and lay down in the soft sheets which they had left that very morning. Both naked, they made skin with skin.
« You made me a real fright today… » Matt confessed, stroking Gabby's back, her head resting comfortably on his chest.
« But my captain of husband is and will always be there to save me, » she said, her voice a little scratched.
« I could not leave Mrs. Captain Casey in such a situation, » he teased before he resumed his seriousness: « You seem to like being stuck under the rubble, babe, but it does not have to become something usual! Twice in five years, it seems to me amply enough! » He said before putting his chin on the top of her head. « I love you so much, you know… » he said in a voice full of emotion, before putting a kiss on the top of her head.
« I love you too, » she replied before kissing his chest, at the level of his heart. « I think we've had enough fright in a few months for the rest of our lives, » she said, resting her head and letting out a small smile.
A/N: So, I hope you loved it. I am not very good with rescue scenes, so I hope it remains plausible despite the lack of details. Looking forward to seeing this episode! Don't forget to leave me a little review, and I see you soon. With all my love, G.