Hello! So I've decided to add another chapter to this. I didn't feel like I would've been able to get everything I wanted in just this chapter, so it's slightly shorter (sorry). The next one will be longer and wrap everything up :) thank you for all the reviews and let me know what you think!


It was late and I was on shift. Almost everyone was asleep, and if not, they were off somewhere doing god knows what. I was sitting on the couch, trying to watch some cop show that was on. I kept dozing off every few minutes, only to be woken by a commercial that was louder than normal, or a phone ringing in the distance. It had been a week since I'd last seen Matt, getting a text from him every once and a while, asking how my shift was going. I felt my phone vibrating in my pocket and pulled it out. Matt was calling me. I lowered the volume on the tv, and answered. "Hey!" I heard on the other end of the call. I smiled to myself.

"Hey yourself," I said, trying not to talk too loud. "What's up?"

"Nothing, really. Kinda just wanted to talk to you."

"Well, here I am." He laughed quietly. "You're on shift?" I asked him, getting up to walk around and stretch my legs.

"Yeah, just got off a call, actually. How's your shift going?"

"Alright, pretty slow. Everyone's sleeping."

"And why exactly are you up?"

"Wasn't tired." It had been bothering me all week, so I asked "how was talking with Hallie?" It was quiet for a few moments on the other end.

"It was, good, I guess. We said that we'd keep things simple," he said, sighing after. My brows furrowed.

"You don't sound so happy with that."

"No, I'm fine with it." It got quiet again. "So, do you wanna hang out again?" I was surprised he was asking. Especially since he'd just told me he and Hallie were keeping things simple. Which probably meant they were together again. But I'd had so much fun hanging out with him that I wasn't about to object.

"Yeah sure. When's good for you?"

"How about I pick you up after shift is over. Sound good?"

"Yeah. Hey, talk to me about something to keep me awake." I had been walking around the common area, but now I went back and sat on the couch. We talked for about an hour, before he had to leave to do paperwork. Exhausted, I just ended up falling asleep on the couch. I woke up to a call, and got up, heading to the ambulance. Getting back to the house after the call, I was so tired, but we only had an hour left on shift so sleep seemed pointless. I made coffee, drinking a cup, and then filling up my travel mug. I probably should have asked Matt if we could've met up later, but at the time I didn't care.

Leaving the house after shift, I saw Matt standing by his truck. Chout was trailing behind me, telling me some story I wasn't even trying to pay attention to. When Matt noticed me he waved, and I turned around to Chout. "Hey, I've got to go meet up with someone. I'll see you later." I walked off as quickly as I could, not waiting for his goodbye. Matt started walking towards me, and smiled at me as I walked up.

"Is that your boyfriend?" he asked teasingly. I rolled my eyes and stopped in front of him.

"No, he's my partner. My incredibly talkative partner." He laughed, hearing the annoyance in my voice, and nodded towards his car.

"Let's go." We got in and buckled up, driving off. "So, where do you want to go?" He asked.

"I don't really care. Food would be nice. And coffee, coffee would also be nice." He turned to me quickly, smirking.

"Didn't get much sleep?"

"A decent amount," I lied, yawning almost immediately after. He raised his eyebrows. "Fine, I only got a few hours."

"You know we could've just hung out later." I waved my hand at him.

"It's fine, besides, I like hanging out with you." We turned to face each other and both smiled. We drove to a diner in comfortable silence. When we got out, and were seated and had ordered, I asked, "How was your shift? Any grueling calls?"

"Not really, although Shay and her partner got shot at." I raised my eyebrows, "or so I heard. You'll have to ask her about it. How was yours?"

I shrugged. "Not bad I guess. I don't know, since my old partner left, everything just feels weird. And my new partner kind of idolizes me a little. It's weird."

"No word about your transfer?" He asked, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Nope."

He nodded, considering. "What made you want to be a paramedic anyway?" I looked at him, I had been busy stirring sugar into my coffee. He was looking at me intently.

"Well, I've always been really interested in medicine, you know. I took a ton of biology and anatomy classes. I got to dissect a cat once," I said, grinning. He looked disgusted and shuddered, grinning after, signalling for me to go on. "I don't know, I mean, I kind of always wanted to be a doctor. A friend of mine was a paramedic so I looked into it. And that's why I'm here."

"So no dreams of big fancy med school?" He asked.

"Not right now. Big fancy med school is kind of expensive. Although I was taking some pre-med classes up until recently. I'm planning on starting up again."

"That's great, Gabby," I looked up at him and he was smiling at me, and looked impressed. "You know if you want, Hallie's at Lake Shore. I'm sure if I asked she's let you tag along on one of her shifts." Hearing her name made my heart sink a little. But I nodded at him and smiled.

"Yeah, that would be great."


"Oh please, Mills, you weren't that great!" Shay looked at Peter incredulously. It was a Friday night and I was at the bar with everyone from 51. Peter had been telling me about how he broke the record time for some training exercise.

"Yes, I was!" Peter turned to me, "I was, trust me." I grinned at him shaking my head at Shay who was already interjecting.

"Don't get too cocky, Mills. It's just one training exercise." I took a sip of my beer and pointed at Shay.

"She's right you know. Don't let yourself get too cocky. You had one day in the sun, let's see how you handle the other 364 days." Peter grinned at me. Since I had met everyone at the bar about two months ago I'd started going out with them every once and a while. Matt and I would get together once a week, and talk about things. Him and Hallie were together, and working on things I guess. I tried to avoid bringing her up. But tonight her and Matt were coming to the bar. Matt had told me that she was really looking forward to meeting me, and I almost skipped out, but decided not to. Shay grabbed my arm.

"Lets go get another drink," she dragged me to the bar, and ordered two shots.

"Yeah, um, I'm really not feeling it tonight Shay." She looked over at me seriously and handed the shot glass to me. I sighed, and drank.

"I think Mills has a crush on you." Shay smiled at me, and I rolled my eyes. "He's adorable, like a puppy." I laughed.

"I really doubt it, but, alright."

"He totally does!" Shay protested. "You should see it he lights up whenever someone mentions your name at the house. You know I'm glad you're not as busy anymore. I missed hanging out with you, plus all the guys really like you." I looked over at her.

"Why doesn't your partner ever come out?" Shay shrugged.

"I don't know. That girl is a mystery, she barely talks to anyone. No one know anything about her it's creepy. She's kind of hot though." I grinned up at Shay when we heard someone walk up behind us. We both turned around in our bar stools, and there was Matt, and Hallie. She was pretty, tall too. Not exactly what I'd imagined her looking like.

"Hey!" I said, smiling. Matt smiled back at me and pulled me into a hug. Next to us I heard Shay exchanging greetings with Hallie. When I pulled back, Hallie was smiling at me, but she looks somewhat annoyed. Her mouth was twisted as if she had tasted something sour. Matt looked between us.

"Hallie, this is my friend Gabby I told you about. Gabby, this is Hallie." I stuck my hand out and smiled at her.

"It's nice to meet you."

"Yeah you too," she said, shaking my hand. "I've heard a lot about you." I nodded at her, still smiling. Then I turned to Shay.

"Want to go back over there?" I asked, motioning to where Peter was now sitting with Joe.

"Yeah sure," Shay smiled at Matt and Hallie. "We'll see you guys around I'm sure." She hopped off the barstool and I followed her, giving the pair I slight wave before I walked off with Shay. "Well that's Hallie," she said quietly.

"She's really pretty Shay." Shay shrugged.

"Eh, not really my type." We reached the table and sat down, Joe pulling me into a one armed hug.

"Hey Gabby, how you doing?!" His enthusiastic voice and high spirits made me smile.

"Pretty good, and yourself?"

"Not so bad." We sat around talking and laughing for about an hour, before I decided to get a cab home. I said goodbye to Shay and everyone else, and left the bar, pulling out a phone to call a cab company. I was standing outside, when Matt's car pulled up. The window rolled down, Hallie sitting in the passenger seat, and he called out from the drivers side.

"Need a ride?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm just going to call a cab."

"C'mon, Gabby. Free of charge." He grinned at me.I sighed, and walked towards the car, hopping into the back seat. This was a terrible idea. Matt looked back at me.

"This feels an awful lot like my parents coming to pick me up when I was out past curfew." Matt laughed, turning back around and pulling into the road.

"What, you were one of those rebellious kids?" I shrugged, letting out a quiet 'eh', before settling back into my seat. The first few minutes passed in silence before Hallie spoke up.

"So Gabriela, Matt tells me you want to be a doctor."

"Well, yeah. I was taking some pre-med classes a while back."

"You know you could always come in with me one day. I'm sure it'd be okay."

"Yeah, that would be cool. It wouldn't be too much trouble would it?" I felt weird, almost as if I was putting her out. I doubted this was her idea, who would want their boyfriends female friend trailing around with them at work.

"No, no trouble at all. Just tell me when, I'll set it all up."

"Yeah, that sounds great. Thanks." We fell back into silence. When we finally reached my house, I said a quick goodbye and jumped out of the car. That had been incredibly uncomfortable. I wondered what Matt had told Hallie about me. She didn't seem like she like me very much. She had sounded incredibly tense the entire time she spoke to me. Well whatever Matt had told her, she obviously wasn't so happy about us being friends. I tried to ignore the feelings I had towards Matt, but it was close to impossible. Being around him made me incredibly happy, so I wouldn't act on them. I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship, I was happier than I'd been in a while. Since that night I'd first met everyone at the bar, the guys of 51 had brought me into their little family. And I had Shay, and Matt. So I should just try to enjoy how well things were going at the moment.


"So what exactly are you making?" Matt asked me, taking a sip from his bottle of beer.

"Pollo arroz picante," I said. When he looked at me unsure I assured him, "it'll be good."

"Alright I'll take your word." We'd decided to get together, and since it was pouring outside we figured it would be a lot nicer to do something indoors. So I offered to cook for him and Hallie. But since Hallie was working the night shift, it was just me and Matt in my kitchen. Me standing by the stove making sure nothing burned, Matt sitting at the bar counter and drinking a beer. I was thankful that Hallie couldn't come. The only reason I'd invited her was because I figured she wouldn't appreciate me inviting her boyfriend over to cook for him. It had been a few weeks since we'd met, and we hadn't talked since. Me and Matt continued to hang out, and I continued to ignore my growing feelings for him.

"Hey, did you still want to run a shift with Hallie?" He asked. I turned to look at him quickly before going to the fridge to get myself a beer.

"Oh, yeah I'd kind of forgotten about that. I'd really like to, but I've been busy lately." I settled back against the countertop and opened my beer, taking a swig of it. Matt raised his eyebrows at me.

"Busy with what?"

"You know things." I couldn't think of anything, and Matt knew I was lying. He was smirking at me, and I threw my hand up in admission. "Fine, I haven't been busy. It just feels… I don't know, weird."

"Why is it weird?"

"Well because we're friends, and she's your girlfriend. I'm pretty sure she doesn't like me very much." He looked at me in disbelief. "She doesn't, Matt!"

"Well, I don't think that's true, but. Gabby we're friends, it's not like she has anything to worry about." I suddenly felt incredibly sad. She had nothing to worry about. Because me and Matt were just friends, and nothing was going to happen between us. My face must have fallen when he said that, because he asked me, "Are you ok?"

I nodded. "Yeah, I just didn't feel so good for a second there." He nodded and continued.

"Look, Gabby. You're honestly the best friend I've had since…" He trailed off and when he looked up at me I nodded at him, telling him to go on. "You're the best friend I've had since Darden died, okay. And if Hallie doesn't like you, which I'm pretty sure isn't true, then she'll have to deal with it. I like spending time with you, alright?" I nodded at him and smiled. We changed the subject and ate, him leaving soon after since we both had to work the next day. But all I could think about was for that night was that Hallie had nothing to worry about. Because me and Matt were just friends.


It was the end of my shift, and I was leaving the locker room when Chout walked in.

"Hey Dawson, Chief wants to talk to you." I quickly ran over everything that had happened over shift, wondering if I'd done something wrong. Nothing came to mind, so I closed my locker and headed towards his office, telling Chout goodbye. I knocked on the chiefs door once I got to his office, opening the door slightly. He motioned me in, and I went and stood in front of his desk.

"You wanted to see me chief?"

"Yes, Dawson. I have some good news. Your transfer came through." My eyes widened and I could feel a smile growing on my face. "A spot for PIC at Firehouse 51 opened up, your next shift here will be your last." He was smiling at me. He stuck his hand out, and I did the same, shaking his hand. "It's been great having you here, you'll be missed."

"Thank you, chief." I smiled at him and turned around walking out. When I got to my car I sat there, smiling to myself. I felt so jittery and happy. My transfer had finally come through, and I was transferring to 51 of all houses. I'd get to work with Shay everyday, which was exciting. We'd worked together for a short period of time a year or two back, so I wasn't too worried about it. Thinking of Shay, I pulled out my phone and called her.

"Hey, what's up?" She said once she'd picked up.

"Uh, I've got good news. My transfer came in."

"Gabby that's great! What house were you transferred to?"

"I was transferred to 51, actually." There was silence on the other end before Shay spoke again.

"Is this a joke? This better not be a joke." I laughed.

"No it's not a joke, I just talked to my chief. I'll be at 51 two shifts from now." Shay started laughing, and let out a small cheer.

"This is great, oh my god! We need to go out for a drink to celebrate. Can you meet up tonight? I'll invite the guys, they'll be so excited."

"No, don't do that!"

"Why not?"

"Well, I just feel like it needs to be professional, you know? I just wanted to tell you, really."

"True, true. Are you going to tell Casey?" I thought about it for a second.

"I hadn't really thought that far, should I? I mean we're just friends, and it's not like I'm on truck with him."

"I don't know, I guess it's up to you. Anyways, I got to go, I still haven't left the house. But I'll text you later, and we can meet for drinks."

Saying goodbye to Shay, I hung up and drove home, wondering if I should tell Matt. We'd become great friends, and it seemed like the kind of thing you'd tell a friend about, so I decided I'd call him once I got home. I was so happy, I couldn't keep myself from smiling. If anyone saw me they'd probably think I was an idiot, I was smiling so wide. When I pulled up in front of my house, I saw Matt sitting on my doorstep. Confused, I parked, and got out. He'd stood up, so I walked to my door and stood facing him. "Hey, what're you doing here?" Matt smiled at me.

"Nothing specific really, just felt like doing something." I nodded.

"Well, if you want, we can go get ice cream to celebrate." I gleamed up at him, and he looked back at me confused. "My transfer came through!" His face broke into a huge smile, and he pulled me into a hug.

"That's great Gabby." He squeezed me tight, and lifted me off the ground, spinning me around. I laughed and he set me down, asking "what house are you at?"

"I'm actually going to be at 51, shift after the next." I dragged the toe of my shoe on the ground, looking at him carefully, gauging his reaction. He looked surprised at first, but then his face broke into a smile even bigger than it was before.

"This is great, Gabby." I sighed in relief, smiling back at him. "Let's go celebrate."


I'd settled in pretty well at 51, just as I'd expected. This was honestly the first time at my life that I'd truly been happy. Shay and I were close as ever, and me and Matt spent a lot of time together. I'd sort of accepted at this point that we weren't going to be more than friends, at least for the time being. It was the annual barbeque, and I was sitting at a table with Shay, eating food and drinking beer.

"So, what about that hot detective in Antonios unit?" Shay smiled at me and nudged me, while Severide raised his eyebrows at me.

"What about him?"

"Well, you've talked to him a few times, he's nice to look at, just jump his bones already."

"Okay, really?"

"Gabs, seriously how long was it been?" Severide snorted and I looked at Shay warningly "What?"

"Not appropriate. But yeah, it's been a while."

"So, just get to it. Go get your hetero on!"

"What exactly are you guys talking about?" Matt said, walking up to the table, Hallie right behind him. Severide pulled a chair out for him.

"Please, Casey, come save me from all this girl talk." Matt grinned at me, looking between me and Shay, and I smiled back. They both sat down, and when I glanced over quickly at Hallie I saw her giving me a look that didn't seem too far from annoyance.

"There's actually no girl talk going on anymore. No stories to be told."

"Oh please, we're talking about Dawson's love life there's a million stories to be told. It's a disaster. I keep telling you you should just switch teams." I rolled my eyes at Shay, taking a drink of my beer. "Although we tried that already and even that didn't work out too well." I almost spit out my drink and I saw Matt's eyes widen and Severide's eyebrows go up. Hallie was just sitting there looking uncomfortable.

"Shay, stop it." I said strictly, hoping she'd understand that this conversation wasn't going to continue. She shrugged, and looked at me innocently. "Alright, let's talk about something else." Matt chuckled, and started talking about some guy he was working for, as I sat there thinking about what Shay was saying. My love life honestly was a mess. I hadn't had a serious boyfriend in a while, and hadn't even been on a date for about a year now. Not that it even really mattered to me. I'd never really felt the need for companionship. But with my life so on track now, I thought maybe it was time to improve on other areas. My thoughts started to wander and deciding I was thirsty I got up. "I'm going to grab a beer, anyone else want something?" Everyone shook their heads and I got up, walking over to the cooler to grab a beer. I was digging through the ice when I felt someone walk over next to me. I looked up and realizing it was Severide smiled at him, handing him the beer I'd just found.

"Thanks. So, when're you going to fess up to having a huge crush on Casey?" I groaned in response. "Seriously, Gabby. There's no way it's going to work out between them." I decided to ignore that, not wanting to catch false hope.

"How do you know? Am I really that obvious?"

"Nah, me and Shay can definitely tell though."

"Yeah well, I'm moving on. It was dumb for me to think it was going to go anywhere anyways. Hey, do you have any cute friends in other houses you want to set me up with?" He raised his eyebrows and put his hand on my back to lead me back to the table.

"Well what's your type?"

"I'm not picky. Try not to pick anyone too obnoxious though." We sat down and found Shay back at the table by herself.

"Thank god you two are back, I was sitting alone over here all bored. Matt and Hallie went to talk to Heather. What were you two talking about anyways?"

"I'm kicking you out, Gabby's moving in with me." I laughed and Shay rolled her eyes and punched Kelly in the shoulder. "I'm going to set Gabby up with a few friends of mine."

"You have friends?" She asked mockingly, and he got up, tugging her ponytail and walking away. "God does no one want to sit with us?"

"It's alright, we're better off just the two of us."

"You've got that right girl."


I was in the kitchen making dinner with Shay when all the guys walked in from a call.

"Hey is that lasagna?" Christopher called out as he walked in. "Dawson you coming here was the best thing to happen to us, even some of Mills' food wasn't this good."

"Hey, my stuff is great." Mills objected. I grinned at them before putting the pasta in the oven.

"You have to admit, some of your stuff is a little bland Mills." Peter feigned hurt while I heard a damn come from mouch. I walked over and sat next to Casey. "So, I have a project for you."

"Oh really?" He put down the newspaper he was reading. "I have this friend, Jay, who needs help fixing a door or two in his house. He's kinda busy and I think if he tried to use a hammer he'd hurt himself. You down?"

I'd run into Jay a few times at the station Antonio worked at, and after a few coffee dates we'd become friends. Honestly, he wasn't too bad looking and I could definitely see myself dating him, but I was taking things one step at a time, and trying not to overthink things.

"Oh. Yeah I guess I can do that. Give me his number, I'll set it up with him."

"Cool." My phone buzzed in my pocket and I pulled it out, smiling as I read the text from Antonio's wife.

"Why so smiley, is that your new boyfriend or something?" I looked up at Matt, who if I didn't know better had a hint of jealousy on his face.

"No, it's my sister in law." He seemed satisfied with my answer, and went back to reading the paper. It was interesting though. Him an Hallie were still together, why would he even care? It was probably just a friend thing. "Hey Shay, Diego's birthday is this Friday, is it possible you want to come with me?"

"Sorry Gabs, I can't. Kelly's going to be gone all day and our cables been out all week, the cable guy is coming." I groaned. "It'll be fine!"

"I'll come with you." I looked over at Matt who was still reading the newspaper.

"You sure? It'll be kind of boring."

"If there's cake I don't care." He looked up and I muttered about how much of little kid he was, making him laugh. Just then a call came in and I got up, telling the guys that the food needed to be out of the oven in 25 minutes, and ran out with Shay. We were on our way when my phone chirped. I pulled it out of my pocket and smiled, seeing it was from Jay.

"What's got you smiling?"

"Remember that hot detective in Antonio's unit?"

Shay grabbed me by the arm dramatically and I laughed, swatting it away. "No wonder you've been all smiley lately! You've been having sex."

"Alright, no. I'm happy because my life is going well, not because I'm having sex. But Jay and I have been hanging out. I think he's going to ask me out." I looked over at Shay to see her grinning at me. "I've got you, I've got Matt, I'm finally enjoying my job again. And now I may be getting a hot boyfriend."

"I'm going to be honest and say I wish that hot boyfriend was Matt."

"Ugh, not this again. Look, Matt has Hallie. I was only going to make myself miserable pining over him. But I'm over it now. It's not like Matt is the perfect guy or something." I looked over at Shay and rolled my eyes at her expression. "Don't even look at me like that."

"Like what?" She grinned and I couldn't help but grin back as she pulled over and I made myself focus on my job.