Disclaimer: I own nothing except my imagination.
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who read and left a review, it means the world to me. Thanks again to my friend Whitney on twitter who gave me the idea because I love writing it and writing Gabby's character differently. So here is the morning right after.
Matt stirred in bed, his head pounding from all the alcohol he had ingested the previous night. When he finally blinked the sleep away, he realized that he didn't recognize the room he was in. He rubbed his face with both hands and sighed, suddenly feeling some weight on his right side. When he realized that Gabby was still sound asleep at his side, completely naked, he cursed under his breath and scrambled out of bed.
"Where are you running off to?" He was suddenly pulled out of his panic by her voice.
"What the hell happened last night?" He was pulling his pants up his legs as she propped himself on her hand.
"I think that's pretty obvious." Her lips curved in a lazy smile, the sheets barely covering her naked body.
"We can't do this Gabs." He pulled his shirt over his head. "We're friends. That's not how this is supposed to go down."
"And how exactly is it supposed to go down?" She finally sat up, pulling the sheets close to her chest.
"We're not supposed to sleep together, that's not what this was about." He waved between the two.
"Us sleeping together doesn't change anything for me Matt. We're still friends." Matt was freaking out in front of her.
"It does for me." He finished tying his belt. "I told myself that I wouldn't get into a new relationship so soon."
"This doesn't have to be that Matt." She moved around so she could kneel in front of him, pulling him to her. "It can be casual for now or it can even be friends with benefits, that's up to you."
"I don't do friends with benefits Gabby." His voice was low and raw, Gabby sensing his emotions through it.
"Why don't we just get a do over, say this didn't happen. I don't want to lose your friendship." She insisted.
"You won't lose it but this can't happen again."
"Okay." Gabby couldn't understand why this was making him lose his shit but that was his thing and right now there wasn't much she could say or do to take him off the ledge. Matt walked out of her room and Gabby quickly pulled some clothes on. "I'll see you at Molly's?" She asked tentatively.
"Yeah."
"And call me later?"
"Sure." He said absentmindedly. "Have a good day off Gabs." He called in the open door.
"Y
ou too Casey."
Gabby closed the door and leaned against it, sighing. She didn't know how that was going to turn out but she hope that their friendship would remain intact. She showered and returned to bed, wanting to sleep the whole day off away.
Matt fumbled with his keys when he got back to his place, his stress levels through the roof. He took a hot shower, flashes of a naked Gabby running through his mind, jumbling his thoughts more than they already were. Matt heard banging on his front door as he turned the shower off. He wasn't expecting anyone but he quickly got dressed and went to answer.
"Severide, what are you doing here?" He moved aside to let him in.
"Well you left with Gabby last night and I've been sending you messages and calling you and I had no answer so I care to check in you."
"I must have misplaced my phone." He lied.
"Bullshit." Kelly chuckled. "You totally banged her."
"You Don't have to word it that way." He pulled a beer out of the fridge, taking a pull after uncapping it.
"What would you call it?"
"I was drunk and I just wanted to settle her in bed for the night and call myself an Uber back here but she pulled me down to her and it happened. It was a one time thing." He downed the rest of his beer.
"Does it have to be? You guys hit it off pretty good."
"You remember Amy right?"
"That's completely different Case and who says you need to put a name on what you and Gabby have going on? You're aloud some fun Matt."
"Fun." He scoffed.
"Yeah fun. Stop putting so much pressure on yourself and just enjoy whatever it is you got with Gabby."
"Because you're the best one to offer advice." He handed him a beer, laughing.
"Well someone's gotta knock some sense into you." He laughed.
They spent part of the afternoon together before Kelly had to split to meet with Shay, leaving Matt alone again with his thoughts.
Gabby woke from her nap and ended up in front of Netflix with some wine. She kept debating wether or not to call Matt but decided against it. She knew he had things to figure out and pushing him was definitely not the solution. Her evening was uneventful and she ended up crashing early, an early shift waiting for her. She bounced into the district the following morning and made it to the locker room and got dressed before Adam even made an appearance. She was grabbing a radio when he finally found her.
"Hey Dawson, you're here early."
"Woke up at four and couldn't sleep anymore." She shrugged.
"What do you have for us Sarge?" Gabby poked her head from around the corner, Adam on her heals.
"Here's your keys and you are on babysitting duty for Voight."
"Just great." Adam grumbled. He wanted nothing more than be upstairs but he hated having to sit on a suspect.
"Something you want to add. Ruzek?"
"Nothing Sarge. Thanks." He took the keys he was handed. "I swear she hates me." He grumbled as they made it to the lot.
"If she hated you, she wouldn't have partnered you up with me." She patted his cheek and laughed, taking shotgun.
They drove to the address Platt had given them but Gabby had her mind somewhere else, watching the Chicago scenery pass her by.
"Earth to Dawson." He snapped his fingers in front of her face and she didn't even flinch.
"What was that?" She finally looked at him.
"I asked you how your day off went. I didn't even get one text from you."
"I slept all day." She lied.
"And you expect me to believe that nothing happened between you and Casey after you left Molly's the other night?"
"And what if something did happen?" She finally snapped at him.
"Hey, I'm on your side here Dawson, no need to chew my head off."
"Something did happen." She sighed. "He freaked out, I said we didn't to make a big deal out of it and that I didn't want to lose him as a friend."
"So friends with benefits huh?" He smirked, giving her shoulder a push.
"He says he doesn't do friends with benefits."
"So where does that leave the two of you?"
"I have no idea." She was being honest with him as she chewed the inside of her cheek.
"Hope the two of you figure it out." He wanted his partner to be as happy as he was with Kim.
"Yeah, thanks." She fidgeted in her seat as she looked at the task at hand, Adam understanding that the discussion was over.
Matt walked into fifty one and holed himself in his office. Gabby was still on his mind as he tried to make sense of what had happened and thought of Kelly's advice and couldn't clear his thoughts. His break up with Amy was still fresh and the pain in his heart was still raw and he couldn't, wouldn't jump into a new relationship right now, casual or serious. His thoughts were interrupted by the bells calling all companies to a house fire. His usual stoic self was on edge in the front seat.
"Everything okay captain?" Kidd asked him, sensing something was on his mind.
"I got a bad feeling about this." They locked eyes together before he returned his attention on the road. They drove for about fifteen minutes before they made it to their destination. He hopped off and waited Boden's instructions, Kelly coming to meet him, the rest of truck and squad behind them.
"Where's the smoke chief?" Kelly asked, looking at the house and coming short of a reason why they were here.
"The fire is probably in the walls, mask up and bring the thermal heating machine with you."
"This doesn't feel right chief." That uneasy feeling intensified in the pit of Matt's stomach.
"Do a quick sweep and first sign of something strange and I want you to radio it in and we'll bring CPD in here."
"Copy that chief." Both Matt and Kelly masked up, not taking any chances of being surprised. They ordered their team to be on stand by, there not being a reason to risk any more lives. They moved carefully inside, the thermal heater doing all the work, still no smoke to be seen or smelled.
"Something isn't right Severide." He just knew it in the pit of his stomach that this call wasn't going to end well.
"Call it in Casey, your gut has always been right on."
"Chief, we've got nothing in here, get CPD."
"Copy that Casey." Boden radio'd in the 21st and about ten minutes, a patrol car came to a stop in front of the house.
"What do you have chief?" Kevin Atwater asked, Kim coming at his side.
"We got called here for a house fire but we haven't seen any smoke and both Casey and Severide are in there and there's no sign of fire in the walls either. Casey thinks there might be something else going on here."
"We're on it chief." Atwater took the lead, Burgess placing her left hand on his shoulder, her gun ready. They entered the house and found Casey and Severide in the living room. "What do you have here Captain?" Kevin asked Matt.
"We came in and we used thermal imaging to look for fire in the walls and we've gone through the whole house and nothing, not even the tiniest sign of smoke or even a fire."
"And Matt's instincts are usually good." Kevin nodded and he and Kim proceeded in looking through the basement first.
Matt moved around the main floor while Kelly moved onto the top floor, opening all the closed doors and for a fraction of a second, he hesitated, a hand on the door handle but he opened it wide and was sent to the ground with a punch to the face and a body tackle. He tussled with the offender and they exchanged blows until Matt was faced with the barrel of the man's gun. He had been held at gun point once before when the firehouse had been taken hostage but this was different. Matt was more vulnerable in the house and he didn't have back-up at the moment.
"We're not here for you." Matt tried to keep his voice steady. "We're just here to make sure that there's no fire in the building." He had his hands raised in the air.
"I know you're lying. The cops are here but I ain't going back." Matt felt time move in slow motion as he pulled the trigger, his feet pushing his body forward, slamming into him, the shot going off though the right wall. Atwater and Burgess barged back upstairs and cuffed the offender, Kelly coming down from the top floor.
"You okay there Casey?" Burgess asked him as he tried to catch his breath.
"Yeah, I'm all good." He tried to catch his breath.
Atwater and Kim hauled the man outside and the whole house was holding their breath after hearing a shot fired and as soon as Matt and Kelly were out in the fresh air, they were swarmed by the rest of their teams, wanting to make sure they were okay.
"What the hell happened in there?" Boden was far from happy at the moment.
"He ambushed me in a hall closet." Casey took the bottle of water Otis was handing him.
"As soon as we get back to the house, I'm sending you home, I'll get a relief officer ."
"It won't be necessary chief I'm perfectly fine to finish my shift." He argued. Boden looked him in the eye, his own skepticism written in his but he finally sided with his captain, ordering everyone to pack it back up and head to the house.
Matt made himself a cup of coffee and sat at the head of the table, grabbing the paper and looking at his regular pages. Herrmann stopped at his level and patted his shoulder.
"Great job in there Casey." Matt nodded and returned to his paper. He looked to the side when he heard his cell phone ding, finding a text from Gabby. Atwater told me what happened, are you okay? Matt pushed it aside and decided not to answer her. He then stood and made it to his bunk, wanting to put his report down on paper so he could forget about the whole thing. He started scribbling on the paper but kept spacing out. He couldn't get the images of the gun out of his head, mixed with Gabby's worried texts and coupled with a extra quiet shift, it's all his head could think about. Dinner turned around the corner and still no calls had come in and Matt had stayed in his quarters all day, not being able to get their first call out of his mind.
"Hey chief?" Matt finally poked his head through the office door when he had deemed he'd have enough of feeling like that.
"What can I do for you Casey?" He looked up from what he was doing.
"I know I said that I was okay but I can't take that call out of my head."
"My offer for a relief still stands."
"I would really appreciate it chief."
"I'll make the call, go get some rest at home."
"I'm good until someone comes in."
"Alright." They didn't exchange words beyond that and as soon as Matt saw a Lieutenant he remembered was named Jefferson, he grabbed his things and left without another word, passing Boden and Severide in the halls. He drove aimlessly through the streets of Chicago and ended up in front of her building. It didn't take too much convincing on his part to get out of his truck and walk up the stairs to her door, knocking twice. He waited for her to answer and she was surprised to see him at her doorstep considering he was supposed to be on shift.
"Matt?"
"You alone?" She nodded yes and he was flush with her in a second, kissing her hard and closing the door behind him, wanting nothing more than to forget.
A/N: So Matt struggles with the idea of something casual like that after a failed relationship (since I'm writing them OC I didn't want to incorporate any of Matt's ex's from the show) but will he change his mind after this particularly tough call? I really hope you guys liked this chapter and please take a few seconds to review before you go, you're thoughts mean everything to me. - Sarra