a/n: One chapter left, should be finished before the weekend is over ^_^

A month later and Gabriela was still overlapping her hands so that her engagement ring was showing and seemed to be working her way through her squad if only to have new people to tell the story of Matthew's proposal. He'd converted her favorite park (the one squirreled away behind buildings that her and Leslie had found after getting lost one day) into something out of a fairy-tale and gone on bent knee where the trees cropped a perfect square of star filled sky. When she said yes he waved his hand for the others to emerge from behind a canopy whose black drapes had hidden them from sight. Violins were played, toasts were made and Leslie couldn't blame her queasiness on the alcohol Allison had smartly distracted her from.

In practice things weren't different between her and Allison, but they didn't feel the same either. They'd progressed to sharing a drink at Molly's on a regular basis, but with the guys around off the clock and always being interrupted while on the clock there hadn't been an opportunity to talk about what happened; Leslie would've been okay if that didn't change.

"Cute right?"

"I don't know." Leslie squinted at the compact mirror. "Her neck tattoo is really this big?"

"She's sweet! That's a Hawaiian symbol for luck, she told me all about it while I showed her around and she's a receptionist so if you two don't hit it off it's not like I have to deal with her constantly. Severide told me you've been working crazy hours and you can't look at that face and tell me you're not interested."

Someone drummed the top of the car hood and they both jumped until spotting Allison's name badge. Theirs and a couple other firehouses had teamed up to hold CPR certification classes and they'd shown up early, but weren't anymore thanks to Gabriela's noisiness and Kelly's inability to butt out of anyone's personal life ever. She had a feeling he was the one who had sent Allison to drag them in, but that could have had something to do with wanting to blame someone for the conversation happening as they walked towards the rec building.

"What were you two doing?"

"Oh, I was showing Shay the new girl at my job."

"She's in there now."

"Yeah, but why risk her knowing we're talking about her?"

Allison pinched the fabric of Leslie's shirtsleeve, subtly drawing her attention. "You alright?"

" I told you I'm used to it."

"See, she's used to it." Gabriela hooked her arm through Leslie's and picked up their previous conversation where they left off. Leslie whined and kidded in the right places, hardly noticing when Allison's hand left her shirt to hang stiffly at her side as she lead them through the double doors.

Leslie had a mirror on the back of her closet door so that when it was closed she could see herself while lying on her bed. Growing up she'd learned that if she was hurt too badly or exerted herself too much she'd morph, canceling out the worse pain with the lesser one, it was how she'd learned to make minor wounds disappear and it was what had drawn her to a profession that involved equal parts danger and healing. Some people remembered embarrassing things they'd done or nonsense phrases, but when Leslie couldn't sleep she remembered breaking her arm and hearing a little boy scream because she'd grown horns out of the side of a head whose skin had become red-orange while Leslie cried even harder because she'd never morphed before and didn't know why he was leaving her.

So, yeah, she had a few trust issues with the issue being that she trusted anyone who didn't take one look at her and run off in the opposite direction.

Gabriela invited herself, Dana the receptionist and Bryce the driver over to Leslie's to 'hang out' and commence operation dream wedding so Leslie invited Allison, Otis, and Peter over to ensure that the wedding wasn't the only topic up for discussion. Peter turned out to be a complete traitor to Leslie's cause and showed up with a recipe book and his mother, but otherwise things went along predictably. When only Allison, Dana and a recently off work Kelly were left in the living room Leslie nodded for Gabriela to follow her into her bedroom.

"Here's her card, she's a campaign organizer now, but she owes me a favor."

"Wow, this is great." Gabriela pocketed it and dropped onto Leslie's bed like she'd done a million times before. "It's months away, but there's so much to do."

Leslie sat on the carpet and stared up at the legs dangling off her bed. "Most people wait a year."

"We put our lives on the line every day, it's different." She nudged Leslie with her toe. "Be Matt and tell me we're not rushing things. I don't want to freak him out, I just want to hear him say it."

Leslie's eyes flashed gray and her ears shortened. She blinked hard and her face reverted back. "It's getting late."

"Come on, call it an early wedding present?"

The bed shifted as Gabriela turned over, her cheek next to Leslie's. Leslie caught her eye in the mirror and began to morph.

"We're getting married because we're perfect together."

"Not because we keep almost dying?"

"No, I loved you before you the brain injuries and the lawsuits, Gabby, if anything we've been taking our time."

At the door Allison cleared her throat and told Leslie she'd have Kelly take her home instead.

After their last day of CPR training Allison told Leslie that only an idiot wouldn't realize that manipulating one's own anatomy would at the very least cause strain if not outright agony, but even if Gabriela knew that she was still an idiot for not realizing that Leslie only morphed to make her happy.

"You don't know anything about us."

"I know that she's letting you hurt yourself to make her feel better."

"I choose to morph for her and I choose to not make her feel guilty about it."

Allison crossed her arms. "She knows it hurt you. One of the photos I showed her when you were trying not to fold, or whatever you call it, you looked like you were in agony." They were standing in the middle of the parking lot, recently certified children and adults milling past them with the odd firefighter or EMT. "She loves you, Shay, I'm not saying she doesn't, but it don't sit right how she deals with your morphing."

Leslie stepped in close, remembering the photo Allison tucked into the dashboard when she drove and summoning coarse hairs around her mouth while shortening her eyelashes and broadening her shoulders.

"So if you knew someone who could be anyone, you wouldn't take advantage of it? You'd never be tempted?"

Allison slapped her husband's face off of Leslie's then jogged towards the truck instead of the ambulance, stepping on board to the confusion of her coworkers.