A\N: Sorry for the long wait for an update life has been super busy for me lately. Anyways I hope everyone likes this chapter.

Disclaimer: I do not own Chicago Fire, NBC, Global, Spiderman Disney or Universal

Spoilers: Some parts of this chapter were inspired by episode four in season two "A Nuisance Call"

Warnings: None


Juggling Act

It had been a little over two weeks that Griffin and Ben had been living with Matt and Gabby and they had come into a routine.

It was a Friday afternoon and Matt had a three-day weekend. He and Gabriela had spent the day moving all of Ben's things into Griffin's room and set up their new bunk bed that they have got as well as some new furniture and two beanbag chairs and a desk.

Matt had enlisted Severide, Cruz and Ottis to help him set up the boy's room while Gabriela, Shay and her sister in-law Jackie had worked on the nursery.

The nursery had been painted a light blue colour and Gabriela had picked out matching oak crib, changing table and dresser. While Jackie and Shay had set up the furniture Gabby had filled the drawers and closet with outfits and clothes. The baby would be good on clothes until he was a toddler thanks to clothes Gabby and Matt had bought, gifts and hand-me-downs from Herman's boys and Gabriela's nephew Diego.

"Aunt Gabby, Uncle Matt!" Griffin opened the door and called out. "We're home." He began taking off his shoes while Ben slumped onto the wall.

"Hey buds," Matt walked around the corner, "Ready to see your new room!"

"Yay!" Griffin grinned from ear-to-ear, "I've been telling my friends about it all week!"

"While I'm sure you're going to love it." Matt patted his shoulder and then noticed that Ben looked under the weather.

"Hey little man," He left Griffin and walked to the younger boy and knelt down to his level, "What's the matter?"

"Uncle Matt," He whined, "You're going to hate me."

"Wh-What?" Matt almost didn't have time to sensor his words, "Ben nothing you could ever do could make me hate you. Nothing."

"I got a bad mark on my test," He lowered his head and sunk lower on the floor.

"Oh," That wasn't what he was expecting.

"Hi boys," Gabriela came down the stairs, "Ben…." She immediately saw the young boys frown, "What happened?"

"He got a bad mark on a test," Matt informed his wife.

"On your spelling test?' Gabriela questioned as she walked down the rest of the stairs and placed her hands on Ben's shoulders.

Ben nodded his head and he opened up his bag and handed Gabriela his agenda with a note inside of it, "My teacher want's to meet with you. To talk about my school work."

"Oh," Gabriela read the note and then passed it to Matt, "I thought you were doing okay in your other subjects."

Ben walked further into the house but Griffin stayed back; once he was sure his younger brother was out of earshot he turned to Gabby and Matt and said "Mom used to get really upset when we got bad marks on tests and assignments."

"I think we need to have a talk with Heather just the three of us," Gabriela whispered after Griffin left the room.

"I'll go see her next week," Matt responded.

"Matt I'm their guardian too. I want to talk to her as well."

"Gabby I already told you I don't feel comfortable with you being in there. It can get dangerous and I may be overreacting but," He wrapped his arms around her and placed the palms of his hands over her abdomen, "You're carrying our baby and I'm allowed to be a little worried about both of you," He kissed her cheek.

"Yes, you are overreacting," She placed her hands over his, "But that just tells me you're going to be a fantastic father."

Griffin ran into the room and skidded to a halt beside them; thus preventing any further discussion on the subject.

"Can we go to the park?" Griffin wondered, "I'm trying to teach Ben how to do the monkey bars like me."

"Well if Ben wants to go too them of course we can go," Gabriela responded. "I know the perfect park as well its right by the water I think you and Ben will love it."

"I'm all ready to go!" Ben came running wearing a Chicago Blackhawks jacket and the jeans he'd been wearing before.

"Okay Griff go and get a jacket and we can go," Gabriela told the twelve year old.

"A jacket?" Griffin complained, "Aunt Gabby; I don't wear jackets.

"No jacket no park. Its that simple." Gabriela stood her ground.

Griffin mumbled a quick response before turning around and stomping off towards the bedroom.

Matt couldn't help but stare at Ben's Chicago Blackhawks jacket; he remembered the night that Andy had gotten that jacket which had been originally for Griffin but the older boy had obviously grown out of it as boys do.

"Uncle Matt," Ben stood toe-to-toe with him and stared up, "Are you okay?"

Matt scooped Ben up into his arms, "Yeah I'm alright," He settled the eight year old on his hip, "I was just thinking of how much you and your brother remind me of your father."

At that Ben grinned from ear-to-ear, "Mommy says I'm a goof like Dad!" He proudly stated.

Gabriela chuckled, "Oh well in that case remind me to always make sure that I have sugar in my coffee and not salt."

Griffin returned wearing a green jacket and immediately joined in on the converstation "But Aunt Gabby we learned in health class you can't have coffee when you're pregnant. It's bad for the baby."

"Yeah that's right;" Gabby confirmed, "We were just joking around though. What else are you learning in health class?" She became curious of the sixth graders classes.

"Uh next week we start learning about hormones and how they'll start affecting us. We even have to learn about all the things that happen to girls." He made a chocking face.

"What happens to girls?" Ben's endless curiously wondered.

"You'll learn when you're older like Griffin," Gabby told him as she opened the front door.

"Yeah and Aunt Gabby I don't know how you do it. We got out booklets today in class and I flipped through some of it."

"Griffin-" Matt sent the older boy a warning glance as they loaded into Gabriela's car.

"Right," Griffin got the message as he searched his brain for a different topic, "So Aunt Gabby what park are we going to?" He wondered.

"A park my parents used to take Antonio and I to all the time. I think you'll like it; it's near the lake and a beach."

"Cool," Ben grinned, "I like the beach. Can we go out for dinner too?"

"I think that's a possibility," Gabriela answered.

"Alright!" Ben cheered.

It took them almost fifteen minutes to get to the park; Gabriela was right it was almost directly on the beach; only a walkway separated the two. The park was medium sized and Griffin and Ben took off immediately to go and play. Watching them closely Gabby and Matt took a seat on a nearby picnic bench.

"So," Matt took Gabby's hands, "Since the babies due in less then two months now do you think we should start talking about possible names."

Gabriela sighed and put a loose piece of hair behind her ear; the idea of trying to choose a name for their baby scared her more then she'd like to admit.

"Honey we've put it off long enough I think its time we talk about it," He continued to pressure as Griffin climbed up the monkey bars.

"Matt!" She removed her hands, "Matt this is a really important decision it's not just something we can decide on a park bench!"

"Hang on," Matt looked over her shoulder and saw Griffin attempting to do a flip off the monkey bars, "Griffin!" He called and stood up, "What do you think you're doing?" He walked onto the sanded playground.

"A flip."

"I don't think so," Matt motioned for him to get down, "We never said you could do that; it's dangerous and you could get hurt. Now get down from there."

Griffin didn't let go of the monkey bars, "Uncle Matt!" complained, "All my friends can do a flip!"

"And if all your friends jumped off a cliff would you?" He crossed his arms over his chest; a clear sign that Griffin was testing his patience.

"Why would anyone jump off a cliff?" Griffin wanted to know.

"Griffin, just get off the monkey bars."

Griffin mumbled miserably but still did not move.

"Now."

Griffin jumped down and walked away.

Matt sighed deeply as he watched Griffin jump onto a swing and start pumping. Finally satisfied that the boy wasn't going to go back to the monkey bars anytime soon he turned around and headed back to the picnic table. On his way he thought about Griffin before his father had died and how he hand changed. Before Andy's death he had never been as defiant as he'd been in the last two weeks. In fact Matt had never seen him talk about before; sure he had his moments, all kids do; but when his father was alive Griffin was an all around happy, great kid. Matt was positive though that Andy's death had changed that; it had changed everything. Matt would never forget Griffin's determination not to cry at his father's funeral and the way he had to grow up fast to help Heather around the house and look after Ben. Now with his mother in jail and him living in a new home with new rules Matt wondered if Griffin was trying to adjust to it all and if aggression was just his way of handling it.

"Matt;" Gabriela placed her hands on top of his thus successfully pulling him away from his inner thoughts, "We're doing everything we can for them; but it might be better if you eased off Griffin for awhile; when you pick fights with eleven year olds its hard to win."

Matt stared at her as if she had gone insane; he had never heard her say anything filled with such nonsense before, "Oh and what I'm I supposed to do?" He snapped.

"Just be there for him; let him come to you; and instead of yelling at him when he does things you don't like try and praise him for doing good things."

Matt had to admit that her ideas were good but he wasn't in the mood to let her know that. He was fed up with Griffin getting on his nerves and him not knowing how to handle the boy.

"Matt; this is hard on me to but Griffin and Ben they've been through things no kid should have to go through; plus when you take the baby into account-"

"What does the baby have to do with anything?" He questioned.

"Matt just think about it; once this baby gets here we'll be spending all of our time with him; the boys aren't stupid they know that; they know they're not going to get any attention whatsoever. I mean just think about it, that's why Griffin's not getting attached he knows that he'll just get hurt if he does."

"I don't know about you but I have no intention of giving the boys any less attention when the babies born."

"Not on purpose Matt but just think about it when you get home after a long shift who would you go in to check on? Who would you want to see first?"

The thought of holding his son after a rough shift made his heart warm his palms sweaty; then of course like he always did he'd crawl into bed and snuggle close to Gabby.

"You and the baby," He admitted more to himself they to her.

"That's right Matt; It's nothing to be ashamed of its just that somehow once this baby is born we have to keep supporting and paying attention to Griffin and Ben; no matter how hard it gets. We need to make them see they're still loved."

Matt rubbed the back of his neck, "That's going to be hard."

"I know," Gabriela's stomach growled, "It's almost six o'clock she turned on her phone and looked at the time, "You wanna find a place to grab dinner?"

"Sure," Matt stood up, "Griffin, Ben!" He called and immediately both boys stopped what they were doing and looked at him, "Time to go!"

Ben slid down the slide and went racing towards Matt and Gabby. Crashing into Matt he smiled proudly, "Did you see me?" He jumped up and down.

"See what?" Matt asked the young boy.

Ben pouted and stepped back, "You didn't see it," He mumbled.

"Didn't see what Ben?" Gabriela tilted her head to one side.

"I climbed all the way across the monkey bars without any help."

"That's great Ben!" Gabriela smiled widely.

"But you guys didn't see?" Ben again lowered his lip, "I wanted you to see."

"I told you Ben," Griffin stood behind his brother.

"But I wanted them to see," He sighed.

"Well we're watching now," Gabriela sent him a smile, "Go show us."

"Yay!" Ben's whole face changed and he bolted towards the monkey bars and climbed up. Making sure Gabby and Matt were indeed watching he slowly climbed successfully across and jumped down when he got to the end.

"Way to go Ben!" Matt lifted the eight year old in the air, "That was great. The monkey bars were always my favourite thing at a playground.

"I was practicing all summer with Griffin," Ben stated as Matt placed him back on the ground.

"Yeah and now he can do them," Griffin gave his brother a high-five.

"That's really great Ben; I'm very proud of you."

"So boys," Matt changed the subject, "How would you like to go out for dinner tonight?"

Both boys eagerly nodded their heads.

"Good," Matt helped Gabby stand up and the four of them walked towards the car.

After driving down the lakeshore for roughly ten minutes Matt was able to locate a family-friendly seafood restaurant that he thought would be appropriate for dinner. After they had finished up dinner the 'family' decided to take a walk along the beach.

"Can we take off our shoes?" Ben asked as they stepped onto the beach.

"Of course you can buddy," Matt ruffled the young boys hair.

"Yay!" Ben practically threw off his shoes and went running towards the water kicking and splashing it as he went.

"Wait for me!" Griffin ran to join his brother and soon the two were splashing each other and playing in the water.

"Come in!" Griffin waved, "The water's not cold." He promised.

"I don't want to get splashed," Gabriela informed the two boys.

"We won't splash you," Griffin said and Ben nodded his head in agreement.

"Well thank you boys and you know I'd love to join you but taking off my shoes is hard now that I'm seven months pregnant."

"Okay," Ben said and Gabriela was sure she heard a hint of sadness in the boy's voice. "Uncle Matt can you come?" Ben asked.

"Of course!" Matt smiled as he kicked of his shoes and ran and scooped up Ben into his arms and began joining in with Griffin splashing in the water.

"Matt!" Gabby took out her cell phone and found the 'camera' icon, "I want a picture of the three of you!"

"Sure!" Matt held Ben close and pulled Griffin in with his free arm; Allowing Gabriela to snap a few pictures of the three of them.

"Okay, Gabriela announced after a few minutes, "You can go back to playing."

Griffin took off running down the beach, "Come and get me Ben!" He called over his shoulder. "Bet you can't!"

"Oh yeah!" Ben accepted the challenge as Matt set him on the ground and he ran off after his brother.

"Not to fair ahead boys!" Matt shouted after them.

Gabriela squeezed Matt's hand as they continued down the beach keeping a close eye on the two boys who were now taking turns running further into the water.

"They're going to be soaked," Gabriela shook her head as she let go of Matt's hand and made her way towards Ben and Griffin.

Seeing Gabriela approach them Griffin whispered something in Ben's ear and gave Gabriela a cheeky grin.

The in horror Gabriela watched as Ben ran into the water and dove in so his entire body got wet. Re-surfacing the child came up onto the beach shivering.

"Ben!" Gabriela approached him, "Ben what were you thinking? You could get sick!"

"Griffin-dared-dared me too," Ben pointed to his older brother threw his shivers.

"And you don't back out of a dare," Griffin added.

"You're coming with me," Matt took hold of Griffin's arm and dragged him further down the beach.

"Auntie Gabby I'm cold!" Ben whined after Griffin and Matt were out of earshot.

"Yeah I bet you are," Gabriela thought about what she could do to get the boy dry. "You know what," An idea flashed through her mind, "Diego doesn't live to far away; how about we go over to his house and you can borrow some of his clothes. I think you're about the same size.

"O-okay," Ben agreed.

"Come on," Gabriela led him away from the waters edge and met up with Matt and Griffin closer to the car.

Upon seeing Griffin's tear stained eyes and angry growl Gabriela wanted to ask her husband what he had said- or down but knew it was not an appropriate question; she'd ask him later when they were alone.

En-route Gabby called Antonio and explained to him what happened and asked if they could stop in so Ben could borrow some of Diego's clothes. As she expected Antonio had agreed. And twenty minutes later Matt was pulling up the paved driveway.

"Wow!" Griffin spoke for the first time since entering the car, "They're rich! He exclaimed as he looked at the two-story house.

"No, I wouldn't say that," Gabriela unbuckled her seatbelt.

"I would!" Griffin stared at the house, "Can I go in and see Freddie and Carla?"

Matt turned and glared at him, "After what you did tonight? I don't think you even deserve to hang out with them tomorrow when they come over for dinner."

"Ben's the one who did it! Why isn't he getting punished?"

"Griffin that's none of your concern," Matt warned.

Griffin slumped further in the seat and miserably watched Ben walk up the stone walkway with Gabriela.


The tall basketball net looked out of place in the small driveway and was almost taller then the small garage it stood adjunct too; and with it the front yard looked small but that didn't stop Freddie, Griffin, Carla Diego, Ben and Maria from all playing outside while their parents\guardians talked inside and prepared dinner.

"Look!" Five-year-old Maria bounced a basketball high in the air and watched as it landed again, "I can throw it high!"

"Yay," Freddie collected the ball on the second bounce, "And you could also hurt someone." He reprimanded his younger sister.

"No I can't!" Maria argued back, "I'm careful!" She pointed to herself.

"Freddie its not worth it," Carla called from her spot on the front steps where she was busy sketching the street. "She'll always win an argument."

"Yay!" Maria stuck out her tongue, "So yay!" She added as she narrowed her eyes.

"Oh boy," Freddie took a deep breath, "I think you're going to be a nightmare when you're older."

"Drinks!" Griffin walked out of the door Matt was holding open carrying drinks for all of the kids.

"Finally," Griffin dropped the basketball and opened his hands, "Throw mine here man."

Carla looked up at her brother, "You're an idiot. Don't you know anything?"

"I know you're a nerd."

"If Griffin throws you a bottle of coke and you don't catch it, it'll explode all of the driveway and you'll have to face Aunt Gabby and Uncle Matt."

"You don't want to face Matt," Griffin warned his friend, "He grounded me for two weekends because I dared Ben to dive head first into the lake yesterday.

"Oh! So that's what Aunt Gabby was doing at our house last night!"

"Yeah and I was stuck in the car with Matt," Griffin rolled his eyes as he carefully walked past Carla and then backtracked as he and Carla met eye-to-eye.

He had never realized before how beautiful Carla's brown eyes were and her drawing of the block was probably one of the best things he had ever seen anyone draw.

"Hey Griff!" Carla waved her hand in front of Griffin's face, "You alright?"

Griffin shook his head and blushed, "Oh, yeah I'm fine," He lied, "Just tryin' to calm down."

"Okay," Carla didn't seem so sure but she went back to her drawing nonetheless.

"Hey bro just leave Diego and Ben's drink on the ground. When they get tired of riding their bikes they can drink them.

"Yeah," Griffin set the drinks on the ground as Maria reached for hers and sat cross-legged on the grass to drink it.

Meanwhile inside Matt, Gabby, Antonio and Jackie were all sitting around the dinning room table.

"I don't envy you too," Jackie spoke truthfully after hearing about how her sister in-law and brother in-law were doing with Griffin and Ben.

"They're great kids," Matt tried to explain, "It's just they've been through so much and I think Griffin's resents us for it. He's frustrated and needs someone to blame so he's blaming us.

"Do you have any ideas on what you're going to do once the babies born?" Antonio asked.

"No," Gabriela told her brother honestly, "Not a clue. I think that's why Griffin's acting the way he is; he knows he'll never be as important to us as our baby.

"Is he wrong?" Antonio was never one to shy away from a controversial discussion- especially with his younger sister.

"Antonio!" Gabriela gave her older brother a slap on the back of the head, "Of course he's wrong!

Antonio chose to ignore his sister's friendly reminder he needed to remember to keep is mouth shut "Think about it Gab's," He cautiously continued I mean you're baby is going to need twenty-four hour care. How are you going to deal with the boys waking the baby up or the baby crying when the boys need to sleep? What about homework? What about-"

"I think they get it honey," Jackie cut her husband off.

"We're just going to have to learn as we go," Gabby stated as a bloody Ben and startled looking Diego walled into the house.

"Ben!" Gabriela was first seeing the boy's bloody knee, "What happened?"

"He fell Auntie Gabby!" Diego spoke for his injured friend, "Just around the corner."

"Here," Gabriela took Ben's hand, "Lets get you cleaned up."

"No stingy stuff," Ben spoke through his tears.

"Sorry buddy," Gabriela retrieved their home First Aid kit from the closet and sat on the couch and lifted Ben onto her knee, "The stingy stuff will help your knee."

"But it stings!" Ben cried.

"I know," Gabriela began to clean the wound as Ben cringed, "But it works the best," She assured him.

"It does?" Ben knew she was a trained medical professional, "Do you use it in your ambulance?"

"Sometimes we use it," Gabriela confirmed, "Now pick a Band-Aid."

Ben reached for a Spiderman Band-Aid.

"Spiderman great choice," Gabby applied the Band-Aid, "Now go back outside and play," She instructed.

"Thank you Auntie Gabby," Ben kissed her on the cheek before jumping off her knee and running back outside with Diego.

"Well that didn't seem that bad. Is that what he's always like?" Jackie asked as Gabby returned to the table.

"Most of the time," She confirmed, "Ben's handling this situation way better then I accepted him to. I mean he missed Heather of course but- I don't know it's hard to explain.

"You're right sis' something is off with him," Antonio conformed her theory, "Maybe not everything was as happy at home as you thought."

"Antonio Dawson what are you saying?" Gabriela narrowed her eyes. "Or is it what you're not saying? Either way you need to tell us, as we're their guardians.

Antonio grimaced, he had long ago learned it wasn't a good idea to piss off his younger sister but pissing her off while she was pregnant was something he never ever wanted to do.

"Look all I'm sayin' is Heather may or may not be have a file with Children's Aid."

"Antonio!" Gabriela was near tears.

"I talked to a buddy of mine who works in the Child and Family Division and got some information" Antonio admitted, "Apparently in April something happened at the school that led to the cops getting involved and then Children's Services."

"That's all?"

"Yeah that's all he'd tell me; but here," He reached into his pocket and passed over a card, "This is his cell number, he said you can call him to get more information."

Gabriela accepted the card, "We will."

"So," Jackie decided a change of subject was much needed, "We're driving down to Orlando on the kids' Spring Break and we were wondering if you guys wanted to join us."

Matt and Gabby looked between each other.

"We'd need special permission to take them out of State and permission from Heather," Matt explained.

"They've been to Disney before," Gabriela remembered, "Is that where you were thinking of?"

"Yeah that and Universal for Carla, Freddie and Diego," Jackie added, "Plus a few days at the beach."

"That sounds great Jackie but if we can take the boys we'd still need to worry about the baby, he'd only be five months old. I'm not sure about him going to all those parks and everything; but we'll definitely think about when do you want to know by."

"How about three weeks?" Jackie asked, "Is that enough time."

"Yeah that should be fine," Matt confirmed.

TBC


A\N: So, what did you think? Did you like it? What do you think is going to happen next?