Luckiest Souls

So, this is a different type of Dawsey story than my last one and I'm hopeful that it will help fill the void that Dawsey fans are still feeling from not having Monica be part of CF this season. This one takes place in the summer of 2029, which will be the 'present' time period for the story, and the title is taken from part of Matt's speech to Gabby at their wedding reception in S5 ("…as long as we do it together, we're the luckiest souls around"). After introducing this time period in the first chapter, the next batch of chapters will go back in time and fill in the story of how they got to that point in their life together. The storytelling style is modelled after the show This Is Us (that show jumps around in time periods to tell the story of the Pearson family) and hopefully it will make you laugh, cry, gasp, swoon, and overall just be an enjoyable experience. Please let me know what you think and without further ado, here is chapter number one! =)

July 2029

Gabriela Casey stood next to her kitchen island while staring intently at her fridge contents. She frowned as she tried to decide how many juice boxes to put in the soft sided cooler that was sitting on the island. They were only going to be gone for the day but not knowing what food or drinks were going to be available, she didn't want to run out of anything while they were out. She finally took out four juice boxes along with two containers of various vegetables and meats & cheeses and put those into the cooler.

She was getting some ice packs from the freezer when she saw a bit of fur out of the corner of her eye. She looked over just in time to see their cat Carson snooping into the cooler. She laughed as she put the ice packs into the cooler and moved the cat to the floor. She patted Carson's head as she lightly scolded her, "I know you love to be all curious but this is human food, not cat food, so you need to get your cute little nose out of the cooler."

Carson looked up with curious eyes and gave Gabby a pathetic "meow" before eventually moving away and laying down on the other side of the kitchen. Gabby laughed at her sweet but always ornery cat and zipped the cooler up. She walked over to put it on the kitchen table and then heard a young male voice off to her left.

"Mommy, can I take my remote-control truck to the picnic?" asked six-year-old Andrew as he came into the kitchen. He was holding a giant monster truck that was his current favorite toy after getting it for his birthday earlier in the year.

"Do you remember what your daddy and I told you and your sister about this picnic?" Gabby asked him as she looked through the contents of her other picnic bag. Content with what she saw in there, she turned to her son and waited for his answer.

He thought for a moment and then said, "That we should take our backpacks with some toys in them."

"That's right," Gabby said as she moved the bag down to a chair. "We also said to keep the toys limited to what would fit in the backpack, didn't we?"

"Yeah," Andrew said sheepishly. Gabby smiled. He knew where this was going. He looked up at her again, "This truck won't go in my backpack."

Gabby leaned down to his level and gave him a smile as she talked to him again, "You got it buddy. I know you love this truck. Daddy worked hard to find that present for you and it makes him happy that you play with it so much, but it's way too big to take to this picnic."

"Okay," the little boy said as he gave his mom an adorably lopsided grin. He hugged his truck close but understood that taking a huge toy with them today was out of the question. Andrew was about to leave the kitchen when Gabby suddenly had an idea.

"How about taking your smaller truck that does all the tricks?" Gabby asked. "That one would fit in your backpack and with all the grassy areas at the park, you might be able to do some cool tricks with it there."

"Oh, that would be fun!" Andrew said excitedly. He didn't really care which truck he took because he thought they were all great. "I can take that one. Thanks mommy!"

"You're welcome baby," Gabby said smiling. Her son was such a sweet little guy and reminded her more and more of her husband every day. He seemed to pick up a new characteristic from his daddy every other month. Andrew ran up the stairs to get his backpack together and Gabby turned her attention back to the cooler to make sure she had everything set from the kitchen.

She stopped for a moment as she looked back at the fridge doors. The invitation to the picnic was being held there with one of her magnets from Puerto Rico. She stared at the words on the paper and shook her head. This picnic was an official Chicago Fire Department event to celebrate and honor three of the chiefs who were retiring in the fall. She didn't know the other two chiefs very well but she certainly knew the third one. She and her husband Matt knew him quite well.

Her former chief, Wallace Boden, was one of the men retiring in September after serving in the CFD for 30 years. She and Matt had both served with him and he was one of their most cherished friends. Matt had actually been asked to speak for him at the picnic which he viewed as a huge honor. The last time she had checked on him that morning, he was working on his speech and even though it was making him nervous, she knew there was no one better to speak on Boden's behalf than Matt.

A small cry from the family room, where Matt was supposedly working on his speech, suddenly got Gabby's attention. She walked over to the landing to look down at the lower level of their tri-level house (where their family room and the kids playroom were located) and smiled at the scene in front of her. Matt was kneeling in the playroom with their almost four-year-old daughter Becca and he was holding about eight coloring books. She listened to the conversation between her husband and their little girl who was obviously not happy.

"Honey, all of these books won't fit in your backpack," Matt said patiently. "It will also make the bag too heavy. Can you pick just a couple of them to take with you?"

"But I wanna take all of them," Becca said looking up at her dad with pleading eyes. She loved to color and went through books so fast that there were three shelves full of them in the kids playroom. Matt knew asking her to just pick one or two was hard for her but he also knew he was asking for trouble if she took too much stuff with her.

"I don't think there'll be time for you to color in all of them though," Matt said to the little girl. "There's gonna be games and food and other kids to play with there. You may not do any coloring because you'll be too busy."

"I still wanna take some though daddy," the little girl said sadly. She looked up at Matt with an adorable pleading face and Gabby knew he was going to be putty in her hands soon. She was such a daddy's girl and had him wrapped around her little finger.

"How about this sweet girl," Matt said as he spread the books out on their playroom table and finally adjusted his glasses which had slipped down his nose. "Why don't you take your princess coloring book, which I know is one of your favorites, and your Peanuts activity book, so you can do some of the activities if you don't want to color, and then you'll have two good options if you have free time at the picnic. Then we can pack your twistable crayons along with a few pencils so you have everything you need for your books."

"OK daddy," Becca said after thinking about it for a moment. "Help me to put them in my bag please?"

"Of course," Matt said as he smiled at his baby girl. The two of them worked together to fill Becca's backpack and then he sent her upstairs to finish getting a few things from her room. As he came up the stairs, he noticed his wife watching from the main level of the house and joined her in the kitchen. The couple chuckled at the drama of their two children while being silently thankful for some easy life decisions for once.

"How's the speech coming babe?" Gabby asked her husband as she leaned against the counter near the sink.

Matt shrugged, "It's…there. Every time I try to write something, it doesn't come out right. I'm trying to speak from the heart and instead it ends up sounding…"

"Contrived? Insincere? Dorky?" Gabby offered with a half grin and Matt laughed at her accuracy. She wasn't too far off with those guesses.

"Something like that," he said smiling. He leaned against the island across from her and crossed his arms. "It's so weird. I give speeches to firehouses all the time. It's like second nature to me now and yet I can't figure out what to say about the man who's been a friend and mentor to me for most of my career."

Gabby walked over to Matt and put her arms around his waist to pull them closer together. She smiled at her handsome husband, "You'll figure something out. I think it'll come to you once you see him at the picnic."

"Yeah," Matt said as he rubbed Gabby's back. "It's been way too long since we've seen him, Donna, Terrance, and Melanie. I think it'll be great to spend time with them today."

"And everyone else too," Gabby added. "I can't believe how long it's been since we've seen all those guys. How did that happen?"

"Life," Matt said as he pulled Gabby into a hug. "How does that one phrase go…life happens when you're busy making other plans…something like that?"

Gabby nodded as she rested her head on Matt's chest, "Yeah, it's something like that. I'm glad we'll get to see everyone today. It has been way too long."

The couple remained comfortable in their warm hug until they heard little feet heading down the stairs. Gabby turned slightly to see their two little ones hop off the stairs and head towards the kitchen. They broke apart then and smiled at their two little miracles.

"Ready to go!" announced Andrew as he held up his backpack and put his baseball cap on. Becca bounced in a circle to show off her backpack which made Gabby and Matt laugh at their daughter's excitement. Gabby stopped laughing when she noticed her son's shoes.

"Um, baby?" she asked the little boy, "Why do you have two different flip flops on?"

Andrew smiled as he held up one foot, "It's a new style mommy. All the kids at camp wear two different flip flops now. It's fun!"

Matt and Gabby exchanged a look. Since when does a six-year-old care about what's in style? Matt turned to his son, "OK, I don't really have a problem if you want to be 'in style', but this is a big event for your mommy and I so it would be really helpful to us if you could wear matching shoes today."

Andrew pouted for a moment but after seeing both of his parents pleading with their eyes for him to go change his footwear, he sighed, dropped his backpack on the floor, and ran upstairs to change shoes. Matt was relieved that Andrew didn't put up a fight but wondered what parent from his son's group at camp was okay with their kid walking around in two different shoes.

Just then, Becca proudly held up one of her feet and said, "Look daddy, both of my sandals match. I did good job, right?"

"Yes, you sure did princess," Matt said grinning. Becca smiled back at both her parents and danced around the kitchen while the two adults chuckled again at their daughter's energy. Matt went back to the family room to get what he needed for the picnic while Gabby finished packing her other picnic bag. As he returned to the kitchen, Becca turned to her daddy with a question.

"Daddy, will I know people at the picnic?" she asked him as she sat patting Carson on the head. The cat was purring as she enjoyed the attention from the youngest Casey family member. Carson was so good with both of the kids and they adored her too.

"Well," Matt said as he put his folder down on the kitchen table and his CFD chief baseball hat on. "Most of them know you but I don't think you'll remember them. You were pretty little the last time we saw most of them."

"How little was I?" Becca asked him. Matt and Gabby thought for a moment before realizing that she had still been a baby the last time they saw most of their friends from the CFD. Had that much time really passed? Matt shook his head as he turned to answer his daughter.

"You were just a baby, sweet girl," Matt said as he leaned down and nearly lost his glasses in the process. He fixed them as he spoke to his daughter again, "The last time we were all together was at my chief ceremony. Andrew was about three and you were only nine months old. They saw you there but I don't expect you to remember them."

"Oh okay," Becca said. "Will they like me?"

Gabby and Matt smiled at their daughter's innocent question. She was such a people pleaser and loved to help others, very much like both of her parents, and has never met a stranger that she couldn't turn into a friend. They had to watch her like a hawk sometimes because of how chatty and friendly she could be with others.

"They loved you then and I think they'll love you even more now," Gabby said which made the little girl's eyes shine. "Some of them are coming to your birthday party next week so you can get to know them more then too."

"Oh wow!" Becca exclaimed as she stood up. "My party will be extra fun!"

Matt and Gabby exchanged a smile and then saw Andrew return to the kitchen. He not only had matching shoes on now, they were a completely different set of sandals and not either of the flip flops that he had been wearing just a few minutes ago. They exchanged another look as Matt asked his son about it, "What happened to your flip flops buddy?"

"I thought about all the fun stuff you said was gonna be there and decided to wear these instead. I don't wanna fall again," Andrew said as he held up a foot. He had inherited clumsiness from someone, Gabby and Matt weren't sure who since neither of them were all that clutzy, so he'd gotten a few bumps and bruises that summer from running around and falling in his flip flops. The last thing the little boy wanted was to fall in front of all those people.

"That's fine baby," Gabby said smiling. She turned to her husband, "I guess this means we're ready to go?"

"Looks like it," Matt said as he grabbed his CFD folder and slipped his phone into his shorts pocket. "Are you both ready for a fun picnic?"

"YES!" screamed both kids as they jumped up and down. Matt and Gabby laughed as the sudden noise made the cat take off for the safety of the family room. Matt grabbed his keys and the cooler while Gabby picked up the other bag and made sure she had her sunglasses. The kids led the way as the family headed downstairs towards their garage. Andrew and Becca excitedly chatted about the bouncy house and their hope that there was also an obstacle course one while Matt opened the garage door for everyone.

They got the kids settled into seats in their SUV and put the cooler and picnic bag on the floor in front of each of them. The kids chatted away as Gabby and Matt took their respective seats in the front. Matt turned the car on, hit the garage door button to open the door, and made sure to get the A/C going since it was already hot and humid outside. As they waited for the car to cool off, Matt put on his seat belt and then looked over at his wife who was checking both of the kids before putting her own seat belt on. Both of them were a little anxious about seeing everyone again. Gabby noticed him looking over at her and smiled back at him.

"You ready for this?" Gabby asked her husband with a cock of her head.

"As ready as I'll ever be," Matt said as he reached over to hold her hand. His thumb rested on her engagement and wedding rings for a moment and they exchanged a loving look. Time may have passed but their love was stronger than ever. Matt took her hand and gave it a kiss before putting the car into gear to get underway. Gabby patted his knee as he hit the garage door button again to close it. Soon they were on their way.

Gabby settled into her seat to get more comfortable for the 45-minute drive into the city. She looked again at Matt and then looked back at her two angels in the backseat. Time hadn't always been kind to them over the years but she knew she wouldn't trade her life for anything. The difficult moments had been hard but it also helped make them the people they were today. She thought then about how far they'd come together and grew quiet. Their life together really had been quite the adventure…

All right, what do you guys think? Are you happy to see Dawsey with a family? Are you wondering why they haven't seen their CFD friends in a while? Do you have a million other questions? I hope you do because most of the next chapters in the story are designed to answer all those questions and also give you even more to think about as you find out how Dawsey got to this point in their life together. I'm actually very excited to tell this story and I hope you're all ready to go on this journey with me!