As he came to a stop, Matt placed his truck in park and grabbed the two bags on the seat beside him before pushing the door open. Catching up with his wife on the sidewalk, he held her hands in his as they made their way together into the firehouse.
Looking down at his wife walking beside him, his concern grew. She's looking more pale than this morning after what she claimed had been a sleepless night for her. He cursed himself for sleeping like a log when his wife laid beside him unable to get the rest she needed.
"How are you feeling?"
"I'm good, thanks."
"If it gets too much for you, let me know. I can find a sub for you."
"I'll be fine. I promise." Gabby replied, looking up slightly and giving him a reassuring smile.
Matt wasn't appeased by her attempt to sidestep his concerns but he knew better than to push when it comes to his wife. "OK. Be careful out there. I love you."
"I love you too."
With a quick kiss, Matt handed to Gabby her bag and they went their separate ways.
"First agenda of the day, I've been told by Headquarters that Jenkins, if you remember him from before, and a nurse, will be here this morning to conduct a regular health screening. You'll be required to provide your urine sample and the nurse will draw your blood required for health tests. Please cooperate and not give Jenkins a reason to be here longer than he should."
Gabby swallowed hard and lightly massaged her temples as Boden concludes his briefing. "Hey, you ok?" Gabby turned to her partner seated on her right who had notice Gabby's slightly off behaviour that morning and gave her a small smile.
"I'm fine. Just a small headache. I haven't had anything to eat since last evening after I puke out whatever I managed to swallow for dinner."
"What happened?"
"I think it was just too much cheese on the pizza."
"There's never too much cheese on a pizza!"
Gabby gave a small laugh before nudging Brett out of the seat in the now empty briefing room. "C'mon let's go and see what's for breakfast."
Casey sat at his usual seat at the head of the table in the common room, a plate piled with pancakes before him. Reaching for the newspaper in the centre of the table, he caught Severide staring at him with a smirk and eyebrows raised.
Unable to figure out what caught his best friend's attention, he asked, "What?"
Giving a quick glance at the person seated opposite him, in a teasing tone he said, "You guys rolled around till the early hours this morning?"
Matt glanced across at the direction Severide pointed and saw Gabby sitting with an elbow on the table and her head resting on her raised hand, eyes closed. Her other hand held on to a fork over the plate before her with a single pancake on it.
Turning over to Severide, he replied with a smirk of his own, "You should know. We had an unexpected visitor last night which kind of delayed our late night activities."
Raising both hands in his hair, Severide said, "My bad. Didn't know the old married couple are still doing it."
"Oh, it's not dying anytime soon. In fact.."
"What are you guys arguing about?" Matt's sentence was interrupted by a groggy voice coming from his left.
Looking a little ashamed that he was about to air their sex life for everyone in the house to hear and to Severide's amusement, Matt turned a shade pink as he quickly shaked his head and said, "Nothing. You should finish that up and get some rest while you can."
Pushing the plate away from her, she pushed her chair back and stood up. "No, I'm done. Have you seen Brett? I'm going to find her so we get started on inventory."
"Captain Casey..a brave captain who will walk into fires and saves lives but afraid of his own wife," Severide commented with a teasing smile. It was then he noticed the look of concern over Matt's face who is following his wife's movements with his eyes.
"Hey man, something wrong with Gabby?"
"She said she's fine. Just had a restless night last night. But I dont know.."
"Maybe you know it's that time of the you know woman stuff."
Raising an eyebrow, Matt nodded his head slightly, agreeing with Severide. "Yeah, maybe."
His thoughts were interrupted when Cruz came in and announced that Jenkins had just pulled up at the driveway.
"Hey Brett, do you still do the dance exercise thing?" Gabby asked as they made their way back from Med to the firehouse after dropping off a patient.
Brett gave a small laugh at the description that her partner just used. "Yeah I do. I go for zumba classes at least twice a week. Why? Are you interested in joining? Cause I could really use an exercise partner."
"Yeah, I'm thinking of giving it a try. I need to lose some weight. This morning, I can barely button up my pants. There's no point asking Matt if I've put on extra pounds. He's blind to it. All he says is I'm beautiful no matter how much I weigh." Gabby rolled her eyes at the reminder of Matt's response to her question this morning. Why can't men just be truthful to women, she thought.
"That's because he loves you for who you are Gabby. It's not just the physical stuff. Although you are gorgeous and Casey is a really lucky man."
"You're my friend right Brett?"
"I'd like to consider myself one."
"Ok, so tell me. Have I been putting on weight? Tell me the truth."
"Well, there's no easy way to say this. But a little, yea."
Suddenly, a sudden wave of nausea hits her.
"Hey Brett, what's wrong?"
A quick glance told her that something was not right with her partner. She swerved to the right and even before the ambo could come to a complete stop, Brett rushed out and made it just in time to throw up in a public bin near the sidewalk.
Rushing to her partner, Gabby rubbed Brett's back before she finally thinks that there couldn't possibly be anything else in her stomach that she could empty.
"Better?" Gabby asked holding out a tissue.
"Yeah, guess so."
"What happened?"
Looking up with glassy eyes, Brett gave a sigh and confided, "I think I'm pregnant."
"What? Are you sure? Maybe it's just food poisoning?"
"I've been having suffering from this nausea for a few days now, Gabby. I dont know for sure if I am and I hope I'm not. But all signs are pointing in that direction.
Gabby pulled Brett into a tight hug. There's no doubt who the father is and she has some words to convey to the soon to be father of 3. "It's ok honey. We'll take a pregnancy test to confirm, alright. Don't come to any conclusion just yet."
Gabby stared after Brett as she watched her walked into the pharmacy to buy a pregnancy kit. She is going to murder her brother if she turns out to be pregnant and he's not going to do the right thing by her. They were not raised this way by their parents.
A little while later Brett walked out of the store with a bag in her hand. Jumping back into the ambo, they headed back to the station.
Matt watched as the ambo parked in the apron and the paramedics jumped out of it. "Everything ok? You guys were gone for quite sometime."
Gabby turned to see Brett already making her way into the firehouse. Glancing quickly at her husband, she replied, "Yeah, everything's fine. We just went to run a quick errand. I got to go. Need to finish some reports before my captain nags at me for rushing through it again."
Without waiting to hear Matt's reply, Gabby quickened her pace in the direction Brett went.
"Hey Brett, you in there?"
"Yeah, I'm here." Brett replied kicking the stall door open as she sat on the toilet seat.
"You ok? You want to do it now?"
"I'm not ready for this Gabby. I moved to Chicago barely 3 years ago. I can't be pregnant. I'm not ready to be a single mom."
Gabby walked into the stall and wrapped her arms around Brett's shoulder as she sobbed into the side of her stomach. She doesn't know how she would feel either if she finds herself pregnant again. She and Matt had never really talked about actively trying for a baby ever since they lost their child but they've not had protected sex since Louie left. She supposed trying to conceive normally is not as easy as it is thought to be.
A knock on the door caused the women to break out of their own thoughts as Matt's voice drifted through the door, "Brett, Gabby. You guys need to complete the health screening so Jenkins and Nurse Betty can get out of the house as soon as possible."
Raising an eyebrow at Brett, Gabby smiled at the nickname the guys had given to the nurse. "Nurse Betty?"
Brett reciprocated her laughter. "Guess we better go find out why."
"We'll be right there!"
"Gabby. I'm not going to do the test. They're going to come back and tell me I'm off ambo for the next 8 months when my blood results is out. They can't discipline me for not declaring I'm pregnant if I do not know in the first place."
Gabby was not surprised by Brett's decision. She would have the same to secure her position longer in the ambo. "I'll back you up."
Brett gave her a smile and a final hug before getting out from the bathroom and meeting Nurse Betty Boobs.
